


For Blue Skies (2012)

by edsheeran



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 2012 me didn't write smut so sorry, And Of Course - Freeform, Angst, F/F, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Happy Ending, Louis owns a club, Minor Character Death, Sad, harry is forced into a life of prostitution, he's also harry's knight in shining armor, louis is the best with a heart of gold, slight age difference but everyone is over 18, zayn is weirdly over protective and not in a nice way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 76,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5162666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edsheeran/pseuds/edsheeran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is at a point in his life where he's stuck. He's been trained to do something and he keeps going back to it because it's what he is used to. He thinks that there's no getting out and this is how his life is, but he's wrong. He doesn't know that there's someone out there that is willing to help him whether he likes it or not. Now, will he accept the help and start over, or continue with his old ways?</p><p>Sometimes marriage is where a relationship begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> hiya :)
> 
> so I originally wrote this story back in 2012 before take me home was released (so please excuse anything that is outdated) and even after three years, I have no idea who sent me the prompt. before we get started, I wanted to throw in some disclaimers because there are a few things that may not float your boat:
> 
> 1-there are some mentions of underage, but nothing is in detail because I am not about that life and it's only at the very beginning and nowhere else
> 
> 2-there are some moments of homophobic language, but it is very brief, and
> 
> 3-there are some characters who are not the nicest or the best, but that does not mean I don't like the actual people; this is all fiction
> 
> with that being said, no libel intended
> 
> anddddddddddd happy reading!

       It is the worst possible outcome that can occur to a seven year old. With a series of unfortunate events, two innocent lives are lost. No one saw it coming. No one planned it. No one thought it would happen.

       Then again, no one ever thinks that it will happen.

       It happens at twilight—a family of three are driving down the freeway and are singing along to the radio. The father is driving with the mother in the passenger seat and their only son is in the car behind them with the father’s best friend. It’s raining, which is nothing new because it always rained and the father is a good driver—he never received a traffic violation or ever gotten into an accident. The rain picks up and then out of nowhere, a car collides with their car with such force that it moves horizontally until it slams against the wall that separates the freeway from the other side. The mother is killed instantly by the impact and the father follows shortly, leaving their only child as an orphan.

       “Harry?”

       The little boy looks up at the sound of his uncle’s voice. His bright green eyes are shiny with tears and his cheeks are stained. He sniffles and wipes his face with the palms of his hands.

       His uncle squats down in front of him so he can reach his eye level. “I’m really sorry about your Mum and Dad, but I have good news for you.”

       Harry doesn’t say anything. He still can’t grasp the fact that he no longer has a mother or a father anymore. His parents always told him that the world is a magical place and that when you least expect it, something great happens. This is nothing great, not at all.

       “You’ll be living with me now and you’ll have your own room and everything. How does that sound?” his uncle asks him.

       “Okay,” Harry replies softly. His throat is sore from crying hysterically for the past three hours as he was told about his parents and waited for his uncle’s arrival. “Thanks, Uncle David.” He slides off the uncomfortable plastic chair and when his feet reach the ground, David uprights himself and places his hand on his shoulder. He looks back at the hospital as his uncle leads him out, hoping to never return to this horrible place.

       When David pulls up in front of his house, Harry looks at the brick exterior and takes it in. He’s been inside this house many times before, but it’s different now. This is his home now. He knows that it will never be exactly home, but his uncle is his only family now.

       Throughout the first week in his uncle’s house, Harry has a hard time sleeping through the entire night. He keeps having nightmares about his parents falling into darkness of all different sorts. Right when they are about to be swallowed whole, Harry wakes up, screaming and covered in sweat. David will come into his room when he hears the screams, and comforts the little boy until he calms down and he falls asleep.

       After that week, Harry finally settles down in his uncle’s house. He is enrolled in school and slowly, everything starts to fall into place. He misses his parents greatly and he wishes he is with them in their house, but they’re gone. Harry begins to pick his head up and face the world, well as much as a seven year old can. Something inside him tells him to be strong because he survived one of the biggest tragedies anyone could ever experience. The strength will be needed.

       Everything is going good until four days after his eighth birthday.

       His uncle comes into his room around his bedtime and Harry thinks nothing of it. Maybe his uncle came in to tuck him in and wish him goodnight. Maybe his uncle came in to give him one last birthday present. Harry jumps into his bed and sits on top his duvet. His back is against his headboard and he looks over at his uncle.

       David stands in the boy’s doorway. He’s been trying to fight that urge, but it’s been months and he can’t take it anymore. His fingers twitch and his eyes dart to the boy. He walks in the room, closing the door behind him even though they are the only two people in the house.

       After a couple minutes of his uncle just standing there, Harry asks him, “Is everything okay?”

       He takes the six short steps until his knees are a centimeter away from the bed. David sits down at the end of the bed and Harry feels like his uncle is about to tell him bad news like he can’t live with him anymore or something of that nature. He rests his hand on Harry’s leg for a short second before moving it up higher and higher. He repeats this motion a few more times before Harry speaks again.

       “Uncle David . . .” The eight year old boy trails off, not sure what to say. He doesn’t know what is going on and to be completely honest, he is scared.

       “Shh,” David coos. “This will make you feel good.” He moves his hand even higher and Harry’s green eyes go wide.

       By the time David gets up to leave Harry’s room about a half hour later, Harry is mortified. He wanted to say something in the past thirty minutes, but he was speechless. He still is speechless. He doesn’t feel right and he doubts he could ever feel worse.

       “Harry,” David says as he opens the door. “This will be our little secret, yeah? No one else has to know.” And with that, he walks out, shutting the door behind him and leaving Harry chagrined.

       This goes on for years and it isn’t until Harry is ten that David tries something more extreme. By the time Harry reaches the age of thirteen—five years of this abuse—his uncle adds to it by slapping him around a bit, maybe even punching his ribs once or twice. Harry has to deal with this for another three years. He knows he should tell someone or just runaway, but he can’t. David is the only family he has and there is nowhere else he can go. Once this all started, Harry alienated himself from his friends. He was once social and popular, and now, he’s the outcast.

       When Harry is sixteen, his uncle barges into his room just like he has been doing for the past eight years. Harry puts his school book down and sighs. He knows what’s about to happen and he might as well let his uncle do it now so he can get back to studying because in a few more months, he will be able to go off to college and leave all of this behind.

       Harry lies down on his back, making his body as limp as possible so David can do whatever he wants, but something’s different this day. David takes a swig of the beer in his hand and then says, “Get up.” Harry complies and stands up quickly. He can see that his uncle is on his way to get drunk and a pissed off drunk David is never good. “Get out of those PJ’s and put on some shoes.”

       “Where are we going?”

       “To make money,” is all David says before turning around and leaving. When he is at the top of the stairs, he calls over his shoulder, “You have three minutes!”

       He scrambles to his closet and pulls out a pair of dark skinny jeans and changes. Harry decides to keep the plain grey t-shirt he is wearing to save time and quickly slips on a pair of white converse. When he makes it down the stairs, his uncle grunts and walks straight out of the front door. Harry follows and soon uncle and nephew are in the car and on their way.

       Harry is unsure where they are going and what his uncle meant by “making money,” but he knows better than to question it. Part of him hopes that all goes well and he’ll be able to go back to his room and study, but the other part prays that something goes wrong and the officials come into play and take him away from his uncle. He doesn’t know what he’s about to do, but he has a feeling in his gut that it’s nothing good.

       As soon as David parks the car in front of a popular nightclub on the other side of town, Harry’s stomach flops, but he still doesn’t say anything. The bouncer lets them through without any wait and immediately, David grabs his nephew’s arm and pulls him in. Harry does not like this—the lights are dim, the music is loud, and the air is clogged. David doesn’t let go until they are standing in front of the restrooms.

       A man who looks to be at the end of his thirties appears. He is wearing business casual attire which makes Harry wonder if he just left his office or something of that sort. The man smiles at Harry and then looks him over, obviously liking what he sees. “Is this him?” he asks David.

       “Yeah,” David replies.

       The man nods and then hands a small wad of cash to David. “That should be enough for a couple hours.”

       David quickly flicks through the bills before pocketing the money. “Just tell him what to do and he’ll do it.”

       “I like the sound of that.” The man takes a hold of Harry’s hand and tries to pull him away from the restrooms and out of the club, but David stops them. “What, not enough money?

       “I told you the rules,” he states firmly. “You cannot leave this club with him.”

       The man just shrugs before turning around and pulling Harry into the restroom. There is one other person there and as soon as he leaves, the man locks the door and barricades it with a trash can. Harry stands there, trapped. His uncle just sold him to some guy for sex and there is nothing he can do about it. He can’t leave or scream or anything. The man moves closer to Harry, unbuckling his belt and undoing the button of his trousers.

       Harry gulps. His green eyes are wide and he is on the verge of tears. He never thought that this is what his life would come to. He never thought his parents would be killed by a drunk driver. He never thought his uncle would abuse him. He never thought he would find himself in this very situation. As a kid, Harry had big plans for his life and now, everything is tumbling down. His life is over and the sad part is that he never had a chance to live it.

       “Knees,” the man commands and Harry sinks down to the grimy, tiled bathroom floor because he knows he has no choice but to do what he is told.

       The next two hours go slowly and Harry feels worse by the second. When the man finally finishes, he rights himself and walks out of the restroom like he did not just have a sexual encounter. Harry walrus crawls to the nearest toilet and barfs. He has never felt good after his uncle is done with him, but this, this is a million times worse. It doesn’t take long for all of the contents of his stomach to pour out and soon, he is dry heaving. His throat burns and his eyes sting, and this is his life.

        When Harry comes out of the restroom, he catches his uncle’s eye. David is sitting at the bar and when he sees his nephew, he gestures for him to come to him. He looks Harry over and sees that the boy is in no shape for another client which angers him.

       “What the hell is wrong with you?” he spats.

       Harry’s head jerks back a little. The question doesn’t make sense to him. There’s nothing wrong with him. He did what he was told. Isn’t that what his uncle wanted?

       “Do you know how much you are costing me right now?” David shakes his head and downs his drink. “Sit there,” he points to the stool next to him, “and don’t move or talk or anything.”

       He is confused. David had never been the greatest at communication and usually, Harry can easily plug in what his uncle fails to tell him, but at this moment, he is lost. He sits down and stares down at his lap. He feels uncomfortable, just sitting there while his uncle drinks, and all he wants is to go “home” and take a shower. His skin is filthy and his bones don’t feel right.

       This process of David taking Harry to a pub or a nightclub becomes a ritual. David starts off with one or two days a week, but within a few months, Harry is being dragged out of the house almost every day. Some nights, there is more than one client lined up and those nights are what David calls the lucky bucks. However, Harry sees nothing lucky about it. He is being used and abused and there is nothing he can do about it.

       One of the countless nights that Harry lies awake, he thinks about what it will be like if he just got up and left this place. There will be no more uncle and no more of his clients. He will be free to finally make his own choices and do whatever he wants. But, if he leaves, he won’t have a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear, and he won’t have any family.

       Leaving is something Harry thinks about doing every day, but he never does it. He wants to, anyone would if they were in his shoes, but he has nowhere to go. He’s stuck. If he walks out of the front door with no money, no transportation, no nothing, it will not take long for David to find him and bring him back to the house.

       The longer this process goes on, the less Harry thinks about leaving. He begins to feel numb and his thoughts go silent every time David appears in his doorway and tells him to get dressed. It takes him about a year, but Harry finally gets used to it—used to strange men and women having their way with him, used to leaving his studies behind so his uncle can get money, used to feeling nothing and walking around like a zombie.

       Whatever light Harry had is gone forever. It has been slowly fading away since the day his parents passed away. It got dimmer from the time David stepped into his room all those years ago. And now, at the age of eighteen, there is not a trace left of that light. Harry’s life is dark; it has been for ten years now.

       There is a knock at Harry’s door and he almost laughs. Since when does David knock? The door opens and his uncle steps through. He throws a shirt at Harry. “Wear this and do something with that mop on your head. New place and new clients.”

       Harry stands up and picks up the shirt, holding it up to look at it. It’s a plain, white button-up. His uncle wants him to have a classy, not-so-dressed-up look and Harry figures David wants to impress this new client. “How long?”

       “A half hour,” David answers.

       This is new. David has never given that much time for Harry to change before. This client must be big because there is no other explanation. “Okay.”

       Without another word, David leaves the room. Harry changes his shirt and slides on some dark jeans. He runs his hands through his curls and tames them some. His look isn’t perfect, but it will have to do.

       The car ride is long, but it is different. Usually, the uncle and nephew are silent as they drive from point A to point B and sometimes even point C. However, this day, David is spatting out rules to Harry. “Don’t rush the client. Be sure to do whatever the client wants. Don’t forget to give back and please to the fullest. Try to stay as clean as possible.” And Harry’s favorite: “Don’t do anything stupid.”

       As soon as David parks, Harry steps out of the car and looks up at the sign of the club. It is the grand opening and there is a little part of Harry that believes that this new place will bring something. He’s not sure what that something is, but it will be something.

       David steps next to him. “You ready?”

       Harry nods. “Yeah.” He starts walking forward and as he walks past the bouncer, he takes in the name of the club, Red Wave.

  
  



	2. 02

       Everyone has their big days—their very first day of school, their graduation, their wedding—and these days come with lots of nerves. For Louis, this big day has nothing to do with school or holy matrimony; instead, it has to do with the grand opening of his club.

       Louis Tomlinson comes from money, but he’s not one to use his money on useless things. For years now, he’s had the plan to open a club that he would run as well as work at the bar. He wants to make a living on his own and without his family’s money because he is his own person. He is grateful to have money to fall back on if he ever needs it, but at this moment, he is on his own.

       For the past month, Louis has been preparing for the opening of his club. He has been running all over town making sure everything will be absolutely perfect because he does not want this dream of his to crash on the first day. Right before the doors open, Louis stands in the center of the room and looks around. Everything is right where it needs to be: the bar is stocked, the lights are up, the glasses are clean, the DJ is . . . Louis’ face drops. Where the hell is the DJ?

       He pulls his phone out of his front pocket and right when he is about to start dialing, it starts ringing. He picks up, “Where the hell are you?”

       “Well, hello to you, too.”

       “Again, I repeat, where the hell are you? We’re about to open, but we can’t do that if the DJ is not here!” Louis knows he sounds frantic, but this is his night and it has to go well.

       “Lou, calm down. I’ll be there before you know it,” and with that, he hangs up the phone.

       He is about to call back and yell until his throat is sore, but someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns around and sees his best friend, Zayn. He shoves his shoulder. “What the hell? You were supposed to be here over an hour ago!”

       Zayn rubs his shoulder. “I’m here now,” he says. “Stop freaking out. There’s still time.”

       He scoffs. “Zayn, you know how important tonight is to me.”

       “I’ve already set up the booth earlier today and the only thing missing is me and my laptop and we are both here and ready to go, so Louis, take a breath and calm down. I wouldn’t let you down, you know that,” Zayn says in an assuring tone.

       He takes a few deep breaths. “I—I’m just really, really nervous.”

       “Don’t be,” Zayn tells him. “You have the best DJ ever so you have nothing to worry about.”

       Louis laughs humorlessly and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, just make sure the music is perfect, alright? I have lots to worry about, but the music shouldn’t be one, right?”

       Zayn nods. “Yep, I got it. Don’t worry.”

       “Stop saying that.”

       “I can’t help it. You should see how you look right now.” He points to Louis’ face before picking up his laptop case and making his way to the DJ booth.

       Louis takes his place behind the bar and looks around once again. One of the security guards comes up to him and asks him if he’s ready to open the doors. He looks across the room at Zayn who gives him a thumbs up before blasting a high tempo song. Louis nods and holds his breath as people come pouring in through the front door.

       About an hour later, Louis steps away from the bar for a little while. He just wants to make sure all is well. As he is walking through the crowd, he sees the same security guard from before escorting a lady with a lot of makeup on and a tight dress out. It only takes him a second or two to realize that she is a prostitute. Louis doesn’t know if he should be thrilled that this place is big enough to have prostitutes or terrified that this place is big enough to have prostitutes. He doesn’t need to get in trouble with the law for that, especially on the opening night.

       He moves over to the DJ booth and Zayn happily greets him. “This is sick!” Zayn yells over the music.

       Louis nods. “Everything is going well?”

       “Yeah! Everything is going great! The crowd loves me!” He is enthusiastic. From the beginning, Zayn has been playing the perfect songs at the perfect times and it boosts his energy when he sees the crowd getting pumped by the music.

       He chuckles. “Good to know. If you need anything, lemme know.”

       Zayn slows down the current song a little until a second song comes up. “You know what I like,” he tells his best friend. “When you get a chance, bring me one. Or, five.”

       He shakes his head. “One, maybe. Five? Hell no. I don’t need a drunk DJ.”

       “Aw, come on!”

       “Nope!” Louis laughs. “I’ll be back later.”

       The blue-eyed man leaves the booth and walks back into the crowd. People are everywhere, which is a good thing. This means that business is doing well and it should be a successful first night. On his way back to the bar, a lady with long, blond hair stops him. She is wearing a short, black dress and way too much makeup.

       “Excuse me,” Louis says. When he tries to walk around her, she blocks him again. “Do you need something?” he asks, utterly confused at this woman.

       She looks him over and with one manicured hand, she snaps his red braces. “You look like you could use some fun,” she says.

       “I’m already having fun,” he responds.

       She shakes her head. “A different kind of fun.”

       “What d’you m—”

       He is cut off when she leans over and whispers in his ear. “Just £200 for the hour and I’ll show you the most fun you’ve ever had in your life.”

       Louis moves back. Sure, he hasn’t had sex in a while. Okay, fine, he hasn’t had sex ever, but that does not mean he is about to buy sex from a random person. He’ll do it when he is good and ready and in love with a girl, not some hooker.

       “So, what do you say?” the lady asks seductively.

       He scans the room until his eyes find one of the security guards. Fortunately, their eyes lock and the security guard come to Louis. “I say that what you are doing is illegal and it is best if you do not do it here.” She does not have time to respond before the guard grabs her arm and takes her out of the club. When he returns, Louis shakes his hand. “Thanks.”

       “No problem,” he replies. “That was the third one tonight.”

       “What?” Louis drops his face to his palms. “I can’t have them here.”

       “I know,” the guard says. “We’re on it to try to get them out.”

       He sighs. “Thank you.” He sees the other bartender looking panicked as he runs from one end of the bar to the other. “Shit, I gotta go. Thanks again.” Louis weaves through the crowd until he is back behind the bar.

       The rest of the night goes smoothly. There are no more incidents and people genuinely look like they are having a good time. Zayn does an amazing job with the music and any tips Louis receives, he slips into the other bartender’s bowl just for being great. He hasn’t noticed security escort anyone else out, so that is good as well.

       The place is beginning to empty out some, so Louis takes the opportunity for a bathroom break. He walks into the men’s room and relieves himself. When he turns to wash his hands, he notices a guy with dark curls at one of the three sinks. The guy looks up and Louis has a clear view of his reflection and is instantly mesmerized by his green eyes. The guy turns around and Louis smiles, but he doesn’t smile back; he just walks out without a second glance.

       When Louis reenters the club, he looks around for the curly-haired boy, but he doesn’t see him anywhere. Did he leave already? he asks himself. Louis doesn’t know why, but there is just something about that guy that makes him want to go up to him. There is just something about him that Louis can’t get him out of his mind for the remaining night.

       Once the pub is completely empty from customers, Zayn jumps up and sits on top of the counter. Louis shoots him daggers, but he ignores it. “How are you feeling?”

       Louis pauses for a moment, placing the glass he is cleaning down. “Okay.”

       “Okay?” Zayn asks in disbelief. “Just okay?”

       He shrugs. “It was a good night, yeah.”

       Zayn swings his legs over and hops down so he is standing next to Louis. “It might’ve been a good night, but it sure doesn’t sound or look like it coming from you. What happened?”

       He shrugs again. “I have no idea.”

       “Walk me through the night,” Zayn suggests. “I bet we can figure it out that way.”

       “The doors opened, people came in, they drank, listened to music and danced, and then everyone left,” Louis says.

       “Okay, how about you tell me about anyone and everyone you talked to tonight for longer than a drink order?” Zayn knows there’s something up with his best friend, but he doesn’t know why he’s not just telling him.

       “I talked to a few security guards regarding the people they had to escort out. I talked to you and the other bartender. I didn’t really talk to anyone else,” he answers. “Oh, wait, there was a prostitute who offered her services to me at one point.”

       Zayn’s brown eyes go wide. “What?” he exclaims. “Details, now.”

 

       Louis tells him the twenty seconds he spent talking to that lady and ended with her getting kicked out. “And that was it.”

       “Did you think of taking up her offer?”

       “No,” Louis answers without hesitation. “I do not need that from her.”

       “But you need it from someone.”

       “Zayn, if you’re about to go on one of your rants of how I just need to get laid already or whatever, then save it. It’s almost three in the morning and it’s been a long day. I don’t need that right now,” Louis says.

       He raises his hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t gonna go in a rant. I was just gonna say that—”

       Louis cuts him off. “Nope, don’t finish that sentence.”

       “Okay fine, I won’t. But,” he says, “you have to tell me what’s on your mind. You are obviously holding something back and you know I will find out eventually, so might as well tell me now.”

       He sighs and leans back on the other side of the counter. Zayn is right. They are best friends and maybe he can make sense of this all, whatever it is. “Have you ever come across someone that you just had to meet and talk to?”

       Zayn shakes his head. “Not really, no.”

       “Well, I don’t . . . I don’t really know how to explain,” he admits. “It doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t even know why it’s bothering me so much.”

       “Just tell me about it,” Zayn says. “Talk it out. You’ll feel better.”

       “I don’t even know.” He runs a hand through his copper fringe. “I saw him for like two seconds and then he was gone, but there was just something in my gut that told me to go find him and talk to him, but he was gone.”

       “He?” Zayn questions.

       “Yes.”

       “Do you fancy guys?” he asks.

       “No.”

       “Are you sure?”

       “Yes. The guy I saw, there was just something about him that makes me want to approach him, but not in a sexual way or anything,” Louis clarifies.

       Before Zayn can say anything, a girl comes up to the bar. She smiles. “Hi, I left my purse here and I was wondering if I could get it back.”

       Louis looks under the bar and sees a single black purse. He grabs it and holds it out to the girl. “Here you go.”

       “Thanks.” She smiles again. “I’ll see you next time.” He nods and she leaves.

       When he turns his head back to his best friend, Zayn has a smirk on his face. “What?”

       “Nothing,” he shakes his head, but it’s apparent that there’s something. “You just need a girlfriend, that’s all.”

       “I do not,” Louis argues. He is perfectly content on being single. And besides, Louis does not have time for a girlfriend at this time of his life. Right now, all of his focus is on the Red Wave and nothing else. This is his dream and he doesn’t want anything getting in the way of that.

~

 

       After he washes his hands, Harry leaves the Red Wave and goes straight outside to the parking lot. He finds his uncle’s car and when he slides into the passenger seat, he finds David counting money.

       “You did something today, kid, something good,” David says. He is genuinely glad that this night actually was successful. “We got the lucky bucks.”

       Harry buckles his seatbelt and tries to disregard his uncle’s comment. Yeah, sure, the client surely enjoyed himself and when you’re like Harry and have been doing this for almost two years, you get pretty good at it, but it was only one client for two hours. How is that worth the lucky bucks?

       David places the bills in his wallet before he starts the car and drives off. “We’ll be coming back here,” he says right before he drives completely away from the club.

       When they get home, David leaves Harry alone. He is satisfied with the earnings from that night and he is off to add the bills to his collection. Harry silently goes up to his room and shuts the door behind him. Even after so many years of staying there, he never made the room his own. There are no posters on the walls or little random items and knickknacks along the side tables. The walls are painted white and the sheets on the bed are gray. The room is spotless—Harry is a bit of a clean freak and with how the room is, no one would know that he lives there.

       He stands in front of the two square foot mirror that is hanging above his dresser and looks at his reflection. It amazes him how much he has changed in such a short amount of time. He started growing his hair out a bit so it’s not as curly and he is much taller than he was a year ago. He’s different. He knows he is, but if it were his choice, he wouldn’t be.

       Sometimes Harry wonders how he would be like if his parents never died. Would he be at University right now? Would he be in a relationship with someone? Would he have any younger siblings? Would he have a decent job? Would he have a solid group of friends? Would he be in a famous band? Would he be happy? Would he actually feel like there is a point in being here?

       He looks down at the shirt he is wearing. The material is soft against his skin and it is probably the nicest shirt Harry has ever worn, which is why he starts unbuttoning it and taking it off. He hangs it nicely in his closet and slips on a plain, white t-shirt. He throws his jeans in a hamper and then crawls into bed, letting his body relax into the sheets.

       The moment Harry closes his eyes, he sees a pair of shiny blue ones looking at him. He flicks his eyes open and blinks a few times. Harry leans back into his pillows once again and tries to go to sleep, but as soon as his eyes close, he sees those same blue eyes. He sits up and starts thinking about whose eyes he keeps seeing. He has seen so many people in his life that they could be virtually anyone’s.

       An hour later, Harry is still trying to match the blues to a face, but he has no luck. He glances at the clock to see that it is way past four o’clock in the morning. With a grunt, Harry lies back down and clears his head. The eyes probably mean nothing and he’s just really tired. He settles with the conclusion that he is just overthinking it and there’s no point in doing so; however, when Harry closes his eyes one last time, those blue eyes are accompanied by a smile.


	3. 03

           The next night, Harry is expecting his uncle to take him back to the Red Wave, but that’s not where he ends up. When they arrive at a small pub a few blocks from their house, Harry questions why they are not at the Red Wave to himself, but doesn’t say anything. He just goes with whatever his uncle tells him like he’s been doing for years now.

       As Harry walks through the front door, David grabs a hold of his arm and pulls him to the side. “This one’s really short, so don’t waste any time,” he says.

       “How short?” Harry asks as he glances at the cheap watch on his left wrist.

       “A half hour.” The nephew doesn’t have to ask any more questions. He knows that tonight will most likely have the Luck Bucks and that’s why this next client is set for thirty minutes. David scans the room and when he finds who he is looking for, he grins. “Alright Harry, there she is.”

       He nods and then walks toward a lady who looks to be in her thirties. Her dirty blond hair is pulled back into a bun and she is wearing a red dress that cuts off right at her knees. Her makeup is actually normal looking, but her perfume is suffocating. Harry forces himself to smile. “Ready?” he asks.

       She laughs, shoving his shoulder lightly. When she pulls her hand back, Harry notices the fancy diamond ring around her finger, but doesn’t make it obvious that he saw it. The lady wraps her arm around his and says, “I think I’m going to like you.”

       Harry’s body goes stiff at the comment. There is no liking during this. There can’t be. She, just like many others, have paid for a service and that is all there is to it. There doesn’t need to be any small talk or any discussion of any kind. There is no need for anything except the main act and that is all. At least, that is what has been drilled into Harry’s brain.

       The woman leads him to the coat room. She slips the guy who is tending the room a couple of bills before walking right in and closing the door. She turns to Harry and looks him over. “This is just what I need,” she says right as she pounces on him.

       About a half hour later, give or take a minute, Harry stumbles out of the coat room. He shakes his hair out and runs his hands through the curls. He blinks a few times, trying to clear his head from what just happened. He takes a breath before he walks back out into the main room to find his uncle. David doesn’t say anything or even look at Harry before he stands up and walks out of the pub, Harry right behind him.

       A week later, Harry walks into a back supply closet with a guy who looks to be his age, maybe a year or two older. The guy had to have paid David, so Harry gets to it. He strips his jumper off and as soon as the cotton material leaves his body, he feels colder than usual. Harry lets out a slight shiver, but ignores it. He has one job to do and this job requires lots of sacrifices. He starts to unbuckle his belt, but the guy stops him. Harry figures the guy wants a blowjob, so he sinks down to his knees.

       “No,” the guy says and helps Harry back to his feet.

       “No?” Harry questions. This is new.

       The guy shuffles his feet and Harry has never seen someone so nervous before. “I . . .”

       “You’ve never done this before?” Harry asks and the guy nods. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. You obviously want something and that’s why I’m here.” Harry has come across a few nervous souls before, but nothing this bad.

       “Can we . . . err, talk first?” the guy asks.

       “This isn’t really a talk—”

       “I know,” the guy says, cutting him off. “I just . . . it’ll be better . . . for me if we talked. I uh, I already paid . . .” He looks away, but when he meets Harry’s eyes, he says, “Please?”

       Harry sighs, but goes with it. The guy paid for a good time and if talking is what he considers a good time, then all should be well. “What do you want to talk about?”

       The guy bites his bottom lip before he finally asks a question. “Why do you do it?”

       Harry knows what the guy is asking. No one has ever asked him before, so Harry is taken aback with the question. No one has ever cared enough to ask anything personal and that’s how it’s supposed to go. Right?

“Why does anyone do it?” he replies.

       “Is it really that bad for you that you have to do this?” the guy asks and he sounds genuinely curious.

       Harry shrugs. “Everyone has to make money somehow.” He is trying not to give away too much because he doesn’t know this guy and he doesn’t know if he can trust him. Hell, Harry doesn’t even know why he’s really talking to him. He hasn’t had a real conversation with anyone in such a long time that it just feels wrong to speak for too long.

       “But . . . I don’t get it.”

       “How about instead of trying to figure me out, figure yourself out,” Harry suggests. He doesn’t come off as harsh and the guy appreciates that. “Why are you here?”

       He sighs. “I honestly don’t know. I just needed an out and it just all happened and now I’m standing in a closet with a guy who I paid to have sex with.” He runs his hands over his face. “My life is shit.”

       “An out for what?” Harry figures he might as well keep this guy talking before he has some sort of meltdown, runs out of here, and demands his money back. David will not be happy about that.

       He leans against one of the shelves. “Right now, I feel trapped. Nothing is going right, not at home, not at Uni, not at work. Everything is just shit, you know?”

       Harry nods. He does know. His life is shit, too.

       “Shit.” He face palms. “I’m here about to go on a year-long rant on how much my life sucks, but you’re the one who has to live like this every day. I’m a horrible person.”

       “No, you’re not,” Harry says. “You have the choice to take your life where you want it to go. You have the resources to do so and probably people to support you. Don’t let whatever it is that’s making you feel like this stop you from living life. I know it sucks, trust me on that, but don’t give up.” Harry has no idea where those encouraging words came from, but he meant every single one of them. These words are something he wishes someone will tell him, to say that everything will be alright, but that will never happen for him.

       The guy chuckles lightly. “I have no idea why, but that, what you just said, it actually made me feel a bit . . . better.”

       Harry shrugs. “They’re just words.”

       “Yeah, but they’re the words that I needed to hear. Thanks, mate,” he smiles. The guy hands Harry his jumper that he had thrown to the ground. “I know I paid for an hour, but I think I’ll be okay.”

       “Are you sure? I could still . . . you know,” Harry offers.

       He nods. “There’s no need for that. I was never looking for sex in the first place. Thanks again, I really mean it.”

       “Uh . . .” Harry doesn’t quite know what to say. This has never happened before and he’s unsure if he should be glad that he didn’t do anything or terrified that he didn’t do anything.

       The guy smiles again. “I guess I’ll uh, see you around, maybe.” He turns to open the door, but pauses. “I’m Matt, by the way. You’re better than this, I know you are,” he says. “You don’t even know me, yet you said the kindest thing that anyone has ever said to me. I don’t belong in this closet and neither do you. The first chance you have to get out, get out.” And with that, Matt leaves Harry standing in the closet speechless.

       For the next two weeks, Matt’s words haunt Harry’s thoughts at any time he is too quiet. He tries to go back to being a zombie and doing what he is supposed to be doing without a word. He tries to ignore every time Matt’s words ring in his ears and distract himself with something else. He tries to not think about how life would be if he weren’t in this situation and what it’s like to have friends.  

       Harry will love to get out of this lifestyle, but he doesn’t see that happening unless Uncle David dies, which seems unlikely except if he finally drinks himself to death. He lets these thoughts go because there is no point in hoping for something that will not happen any time soon, or ever.

~

       Louis’ friend and co-bartender taps him on the shoulder. Louis jerks up, straightening himself and trying to pretend that he was not just leaning over the bar and falling asleep. He looks around a few times before settling on the Ginger. “Is it time to open already?”

       “Not exactly.”

       “Am I forgetting to do something?”

       “No.”

       Louis sighs. “Then why are you tapping me, Ed?”

       Ed chuckles at his friend’s obvious sleep deprivation. “Lou, you do realize that you run this place, right? And that you’re in charge of basically everything?”

       “Your point?” he asks, getting a little peeved at Ed. Usually, Louis will play along with the banter, but after working every day all day, he’s not in the mood.

       “My point,” Ed says. “Is that there is a fine gentleman waiting for you.”

       He narrows his eyes. “Is that supposed to be a joke?” Ed and Louis have known each other for a few years. They met at Uni and since then, there have always been blows about Louis’ sexuality, but nothing too harmful, just all fun. However, their friendship dipped a bit because Ed decided to drop out and find a better lifestyle that suited him. Of course, the music thing doesn’t work out for everyone and Louis being the helpful person that he is, offered a job to Ed.

       Ed laughs. “Actually, no.” He points and says, “There is really someone wanting to talk to you.”

       Louis follows the direction Ed is pointing at and sees a guy standing awkwardly near the DJ booth. “I guess I should go talk to him then.” Louis walks out from behind the bar and goes to the guy. “Hello,” he greets. “I hear that you need to speak to me?”

       The guy turns around. “Yes, my name is Eric Stephens and—”

       Louis cuts him off. “No shit, you’re Eric fucking Stephens!” he exclaims. “Where the hell have you been, mate?”

       “Where the hell have I been?” he scoffs. “Where the hell have you been, Louis? You move to London for Uni and then you disappear or some shit and then I hear you own a club? Mate, how the fuck did that happen? I never thought you were serious.”

       Louis is slightly offended. “It’s always something I wanted to do, so I did it and that’s about it. What are you doing here?”

       “I live here,” Eric answers simply. “You think London has room for two troublemakers from Doncaster?”

       He laughs. “Definitely.”

       Zayn is about to step into the DJ booth, but he spots familiar faces. He slaps his hand on Louis’ shoulder and asks, “Is that Eric fucking Stephens?”

       Stan grins. “In the flesh.”

       “How have you been?” Zayn asks.

       “Great,” he answers. Eric glances at his wristwatch. “Shit, I gotta go. I just dropped by to say hey and I’ll come back another day,” he promises. “It was good seeing you guys. It almost feels like we’re all back in college.”

       Louis laughs. “Oh, what fun that was,” he says and Zayn nods in agreement.

       “I’ll catch you two later.” He salutes and then walks out the front of the club.

       “What are the odds that Eric walks in here tonight?” Zayn asks. “We haven’t seen him in like five years!”

       “I know,” Louis mimics Zayn’s tone of voice. “It’s about time something eventful happened considering the last three weeks have been a complete bore.”

       “That’s only because you’ve literally been spending every minute here for the past three weeks in hopes of seeing that bloke from opening night,” Zayn corrects. He does not like how much time Louis is wasting on a guy who he saw for two seconds. He knows his best friend is the one to always lend a helping hand—even if it’s not needed or wanted—but this is getting a bit crazy, even for Louis. “Instead of watching the door like a hawk, why don’t you mingle and have fun? This is your club, God dammit.”

       He hangs in head in shame because he knows Zayn is right. “I know, I know. I just know that this guy needs help and I need to help him.”

       Zayn is about to retort his friend’s ridiculous statement, but one of the security guards shout, “Doors open in thirty!” meaning in a mere thirty seconds, people will start filling this place. He leaves Louis and runs to the DJ booth, quickly playing an upbeat song.

       Louis retreats back to the bar and makes a mental note to enjoy himself. This is his dream that is coming to life and he shouldn’t be hung up on someone. He has bigger things to worry about and he needs his spunky energy back. Louis cracks his back right as people start bursting through the front doors and coming straight to the bar for drinks.

       It does not take long for Louis to fall into a rhythm. He is easily chatting up anyone and everyone who comes to his side of the bar and really, he’s just enjoying himself. He feels accomplished every time he looks up and sees everyone having a good time. He wanted a successful club and that is what he got—there’s no complaining.

       When it is nearing midnight, he hands a drink to some man and sees that there’s no one else waiting for a drink at that moment. Louis turns his head to find Ed mixing different drinks together and he smiles. Ed may not be a good student, but he is a hell of a bartender and even better musician. He will do great things, he thinks to himself as he scans the room. There are people everywhere: some dancing and some sitting, some talking and some kissing, some flirting and some drinking. It amazes Louis to see so many different kinds of people in his club because it makes him feel like this club is for everyone and that’s great.

       He takes in the room again and smiles proudly at himself. Louis Tomlinson does not need his family’s money to be happy and successful. He is perfectly pleased with his life right now and there’s nothing that can change that. The Red Wave is up and running and he gets to work with his good friends Zayn and Ed. What else could he ask for?

       Almost as if some higher being or a magical force heard Louis’ thoughts, one of the overhead lights shine directly over a curly-haired boy, which makes Louis spot him instantly. “I’ll be back,” he tells Ed as he walks out from behind the bar. He keeps walking towards him, not letting his eyes look anywhere else because if he does, he’s scared he will lose him in the crowd. Louis is getting so close that he starts opening his mouth to greet the boy, but he stops when he sees the boy talking to an older man.

       “What does that mean?” he asks, his voice low and slow.

       “It means,” the older man answers, “that we’re expanding and taking our business out of just small places. This way, we can charge more and we’ll have more clients.”

       “Bigger pubs?”

       “Harry,” the man sighs. “Houses, client’s houses or wherever they want.”

       Harry does not like this expansion, but then again, he doesn’t like any of it. There’s nothing he can do and there’s no way out. He’s stuck. He’s always been stuck and this just ties him down even more. He takes a breath. “David, is there time for me to go to the toilet?”

       “Yeah, but don’t take forever. Save it for later.”

       Harry turns towards the restrooms and leaves. David begins tapping at his mobile and Louis stands there speechless. The curly-haired boy, Harry, is . . . No, he can’t be. Maybe Louis just misunderstood the conversation. He was eavesdropping after all, so it is more than likely that he did not get the real message of that conversation. There is no way that Harry is a prostitute. The Red Wave does not have prostitutes—the security guards make sure of that—but they usually only look out for female prostitutes. Louis’ blue eyes go wide. Oh my God, Harry is a prostitute.

       Someone bumps Louis’ shoulder, which makes him step forward and places him right in front of David. He looks up at the feathered-haired person in front of him. “What can I help you with?” David asks.

       Louis does not know what possesses him to say this, but it comes out without his brain’s consent. “How much?”

       “Depends on what you’re looking for,” David answers. “An hour here will be £300, but if you want this service elsewhere, it is £500 an hour.”

       He shakes his head. “Not for an hour.”

       David cocks his brow to the side. “Then for how long?”

       “For . . .” Louis pauses for a moment. “Forever.”

  
  



	4. 04

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: Any law or anything of that sort that is mentioned in this chapter is completely made up. I do not know what the real laws are. This is a work of fiction.

       David laughs—like full on, head back, clutch stomach, hyena laugh. He makes no effort to hide it and Louis’ quizzical look just makes him laugh even harder. It takes David a minute or two to compose himself. “You’re shitting me,” he says, ending with chuckle.

       “No, I’m not,” Louis replies with a stern tone. “I am completely serious.”

       He looks at Louis from head to toe. There is no way this boy can afford Harry for a whole night, let alone forever. “Do you know how much that would cost?”

       “I’m willing to pay as much as necessary.”

       David barks into laughter again.

       Louis sees that this man is not taking him seriously and laughing at his face is just plain rude. He knows that David doesn’t see him as a real threat, but he is and there’s only one way to prove it. “I will pay £500,000 for him.”

       That shuts him up for a second before David starts choking on his laughter. “How much?”

       “You heard me.” A little sass never hurts, Louis thinks to himself. “Is that enough for you?” David doesn’t respond so Louis keeps going. “Isn’t that why you’re making him do this, for money? That’s what you’re after, so just take the money. This way you’ll be rich and can acquire to whatever it is you do with your life.”

       He thinks about it briefly. That is quite an offer and there’s so much he could do with that money. It will take him a few more years to earn that much and even then, there won’t be that exact number at one time. This could actually work. David says, “Deal. £500,000 and Harry is yours.”

       Louis almost loses his balance. David agreed. He fucking agreed to Louis buying his prostitute. “With that amount, it will take a few days to get it all together and send the transaction through the bank.” And not only the bank, Louis will have to pay a visit to his parents and ask to break into his trust fund a few years early. This will be a tricky process, but at this moment, Louis is willing to do anything to save Harry.

       “The moment the cash is in my possession, Harry will be in yours,” David says.

       “Sounds like a plan.”

       Louis gathers David’s account information, so as soon as he gets the money, he can transfer it over to him. They exchange numbers and come to an agreement that by the end of the week, their transaction will be complete.

       Hours later when the club is closed for the night, Louis is a frantic mess. He keeps pacing back and forth while biting his already-short fingernails. He keeps replaying the conversation he had with David and he cannot believe it happened. His parents are going to flip when he asks him for the money. He has some money, but nowhere near £500,000. This defeats his purpose of trying to get away from his family’s riches, but it has to be done. He’s doing this for a good reason. He has to be.

       “Lou?” Zayn calls, but Louis is so in his own head that he doesn’t hear him. “Lou!” Still nothing, so Zayn grabs his best friend by the shoulders and stops him from pacing. “Louis, what the hell is going on with you?”

       Louis looks at Zayn, a bit terrified and a bit worried, and continues biting his nails. He knows that Zayn is not going to approve of this and he’ll probably yell and Louis doesn’t need that right now. He is freaking the fuck out and he doesn’t need his best friend’s judgment.

       Zayn slaps Louis’ hand away from his mouth. “Mate, tell me.”

       “I bought something,” he says.

       “Okay, what was it? A car? A house? Another club?” Zayn asks and Louis shakes his head to all of them. “Then what?”

       “I bought something big, so, so big and so, so much money. So, so, so much money,” Louis replies.

       “How much?”

       Louis drops his glance at Zayn. “This is bad, so, so bad. But, no, not very bad, just a little. For so, so good reason. I had to. I really, really had to.”

       “Louis!” Zayn shouts. “You’re not making any sense. What are you talking about? What did you do? What did you buy? And why are you so panicky?”

       “Harry,” Louis blurts.

       He scratches the side of his head. “Harry? Who’s Harry?”

       “I bought Harry.”

       “What?”

       “I bought Harry,” Louis repeats.

       “I got that. What do you mean you bought Harry? Is Harry some name for a drug or some shit because there is no way you actually bought an actual person,” Zayn says. Louis stays quiet and Zayn blows up. “Louis, tell me you did not buy a person.”

       “I can’t do that,” he says quietly.

       “Have you gone mental? Why would you do that?” Zayn cannot believe Louis right now. His friend has done a lot of stupid things in his life, but this, this is over the top. There are laws against this type of thing and he surely does not want Louis going to jail.

       Louis can tell that Zayn is pissed and this is exactly what he didn’t want to happen. Maybe explaining the situation will calm him down. “Harry is the guy I saw on opening night. I knew he needed help, so I’m helping him.”

       “By buying him?” he asks in disbelief.

       Louis nods. “He’s been forced into prostitution for God knows how long and the only way to get him out is to buy him out.”

       Zayn bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from letting out a string of curse words. He cannot deal with Louis at that very moment. The whole situation is wrong on so many levels that he can’t even wrap his head around it. “You are a fucking idiot,” is all he says before he turns on his heels and walks out of the Red Wave.

       That night, Louis can’t sleep—his mind is buzzing with everything he has to do in order to get Harry away from David. First and foremost, he has to get the money. Next, he needs to draw up a contract of some sort to make sure David stays away from Harry. Then, Louis will have to talk to Harry at some point since he is saving him and all.

       So much could go wrong that Louis finds himself walking into a law firm first thing in the morning. He gets on the lift and goes to the correct floor and when he reaches the lobby of the fourteenth floor, he walks straight up the desk. He tells the secretary who he is searching for.

       “Miss Smith, you have a guest waiting for you,” the secretary says into the little intercom.

       There is a beep before a voice comes out of the little black box. “Marley, I’ve told you a million times, call me Tori. You make me feel old.”

       “Sorry,” Marley apologizes. “Do you have a moment for a guest?”

       Another beep. “Yes, send ‘em in.”

       Marley smiles at Louis. “Go down the hall and make a left. Her office is the first one there.”

       “Thank you,” Louis says right before he heads down the hallway. When he gets to the door, he knocks twice before entering. “Is this Miss Smith’s office?”

       She looks up from her computer when she hears the familiar voice. “Louis!” Tori exclaims. “What are you doing here?” She hops up from her seat and goes to hug him. “How’ve you been?” Tori was Louis’ peer mentor when he first started out at Uni. She is a few years older than him, but that doesn’t factor into their friendship. Tori has always been there for Louis with academics and anything else, and that is why he is in her office right now.

       “I’m pretty okay,” he answers.

       Tori scoffs. “Okay, my arse. Here, sit down,” she points to the chairs in front of her desk. Instead of sitting behind her desk, she sits next to Louis. “What’s up?”

       Before he can respond, Marley walks in with a tray of tea. She sets it down on Tori’s desk without a word and then slips out of the room. Tori hands one cup to Louis before taking her own. He takes a sip. “I don’t even know how to explain this properly.”

       “That’s nothing new,” she smirks. “Just go ahead and tell me.”

       He sighs. “Okay, but first, promise me that you won’t blow up at me like Zayn did.”

       “Oh, this must be good. Lou, I promise, I so very promise.” She takes a sip of her tea.

       “Okay, well, last night, I kinda bought a person,” he says.

       Tori chokes and spits her tea out. “What?”

       Louis tells her about the feeling he got when he first saw Harry on opening night. And about how he overheard the conversation Harry had with David and then about how Louis made a rash decision to buy Harry. He voices how he just has to help Harry and this is the only way.

       “Wow, this is . . . This is really serious,” she says after Louis is done talking. “Prostitution is bad already, and now buying a person.” Tori shakes her head, curls flying around. “Louis, are you sure about this? You can get into some deep shit.”

       “I know,” he says. “That’s why I came here. You’re the best lawyer that I know and I really need your help. I need a way to do this as legally as possible because I don’t want to get arrested for trying to do the right thing.”

       She nods. “I’ll look into it, I will, but this can easily be seen as human trafficking.”

       Louis face palms. “Shit.”

       “Don’t worry, I’ll find something,” Tori assures him. “There has to be some loophole to get Harry out without you breaking any laws. I’ll find it, I know I will. I just need some time.”

       “Thank you, like, really, really, massively thank you.”

       “You’re welcome. Now get out of my office, so I can work!” She smiles. “As soon as I find something, I’ll let you know.”

       He stands up and places his cup back on the tray. “Thank you.”

       After Louis leaves Tori’s office, he makes the trip to his parents’ house. He walks into the familiar home and calls out as he strolls though. He finds his mother sitting at the kitchen counter. She has her glasses on as she flips through a book of recipes.

       “Hey mum,” Louis says as he slides into the seat next to her.

       “Louis,” she smiles. “What brings you home?”

       “What, can’t your one and only son come home to visit his mummy?”

       She chuckles. “Yes, he can, but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of you being independent?”

           Yes, he thinks to himself. Louis begins to bite the nail to his index finger and his mother can see his nervousness. He is trying to figure out how to ask for the money without sounding like a spoiled brat or a crazy person.

       “Louis, why are you really here?” his mother asks. “I know you, so don’t even try to lie.”

       He exhales. “I need to break into my trust fund,” he replies.

       Jay slips her glasses off her face and places them on the counter. She studies her son and wonders what trouble he has gotten in to that needs that much money. She knows he has a bit that he uses plus whatever he’s making from his business, but what more does he need? “Why is that?”

       “Because I am buying something that is rather expensive and I don’t quite have all the money for it,” Louis answers.

       “How expensive?”

       He looks away from his mother. “£500,000,” he mumbles.

       “Did you just say £500,000?” She asks and he doesn’t answer. He doesn’t even look at her. “Louis, why on earth do you need half a million?”

       “Mum, it’s for a good cause, I promise. If there were any other way, then I’d do it, but this is the only possible solution. I have to do this and I need your help.” Louis reaches over and holds his mum’s hand like he used to when he was little and scared. “Will you please help me?”

       Jay sees the desperation in her son’s eyes. “Are you in some sort of trouble?”

       He shakes his head. “No, I promise I’m not. I’m trying to get a good person out of a bad situation.” Honestly, Louis has no idea who Harry is as a person, but he is assuming that he is a good person. Harry doesn’t belong in that life, Louis knows that and that is why he will get him out.

       This conversation goes on for another hour with Jay trying to make Louis spill on why exactly he needs £500,000 and Louis trying to answer without telling Jay the complete truth. His mum will not understand why Louis wants to help Harry so much. Hell, Louis doesn’t even understand why he wants to help Harry so much; he just does. He has a feeling in his gut and he’s going with it.

       “But, can’t it wait?” Jay asks. “You will have complete access to your trust fund in a few years when you turn twenty-six and even sooner if you get married before then.”

       Louis almost laughs at the marriage comment. He has had one girlfriend ever and she dumped him after a week. Apparently he sucks as a boyfriend, her words not his and Louis still has not had a special lady friend since. His family and friends have tried to set him up with countless people, but it never gets passed the first date. He sometimes thinks it’ll be nice to have a girlfriend, fall in love, get married, and eventually have children, but he has yet to find a girl for him.

       His phone begins to buzz in his front pocket. He sees the name on the screen and looks up at his mother for permission to answer it. “Is that important?”

       He nods. “Yeah, I’ll be right back.” Louis slides out of the chair and answers the call. “Hello?” he says as he walks through the sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard.

       “Louis, hey,” Tori greets. “I’ve found something.”

       “You have? That’s great.” Louis has been feeling more and more antsy about this whole situation and this bit of news of what he is presuming is good makes him feel slightly relieved. “I hope it’s all good.”

       “Well . . .”

       “Oh no.” The little relief is gone and is replaced with a crap load of more panic.

       “It’s not bad,” she says. “For one, to keep David away, all you’ll have to do is file a restraining order against him. If he breaks it, he’ll be hauled off to jail.”

       Louis is holding his breath because there’s more, there’s always more.

       “And for two,” Tori continues. “The only way for you, Louis Tomlinson you, to have Harry in this situation without getting in any legal trouble is to,” she pauses. “Lou, are you sure about this?”

       “Tori, just tell me before I pass out from this anticipation. I can handle it,” he assures her. “I’ll be fine.”

       “Okay,” she says slowly. “In order for you to save Harry, your words, not mine, you’ll have to marry him.”

       Everything in Louis’ body stops working: he doesn’t breathe, he doesn’t blink, he doesn’t move, he doesn’t speak, he doesn’t think.

       “Louis, are you still there?” Tori asks after she gets no response from Louis.

       “I . . . What? Are you sure?”

       “Yes, I am. I’ve been looking this up since you left my office three hours ago,” she tells him. “I even asked someone I work with for a second opinion and we came to the same conclusion. The only way to get him out completely without any worry is to marry him.”

       He lets out a long breath. “Okay.”

       “Okay?”

       “Okay,” Louis repeats. “Thanks for all of your help. I . . . Thank you.”

       Danielle can tell Louis is shaken by the news, but she knows that he’s still going to go through with it. Louis is one of those people who won’t give up once they set their mind to something. If Louis has to marry Harry then hell, Louis will marry Harry. “You’re welcome. You know I always have your back. If you need anything else, let me know, alright?”

       “Yeah, ‘course.”

       “And Louis? It’s good that you are doing this. Not many people are brave or strong enough to do this for someone. You are a good person.”

       Her words sink in and soothe Louis from completely freaking out. “Thank you, Tori,” he says once more before hanging up. Louis takes a few more breaths because he will surely need them.

       When he comes back inside, Jay asks him, “Everything alright?”

       “It will be,” he answers as he sits down on the chair from before. And, it will be.


	5. 05

       Harry is pulled out of a not-so-blissful sleep with a rude awakening. He squints his eyes at the light and blinks a few times until he has clear vision. He sees David standing next to him with an unreadable expression.

       “Get up,” his uncle orders. “We have places to be.”

       He sits up as David leaves his room. Harry glances at the time and wonders why his uncle woke up him an hour before noon. Usually, David lets Harry do whatever until the evening time when there are clients to meet. Most of the time, Harry slums around in his room in the day time, but there are days when he ventures out and cleans the house. It’s not something he has to do, but he does it just to do something; it’s a job that doesn’t need much thinking and Harry likes that.

       Because the weather is getting cooler, Harry slips on a gray pea coat over his black t-shirt before walking downstairs to the kitchen. He picks up a banana and peels it, taking a huge bite. David appears as Harry finishes off the piece of fruit.

       “Good, you ate. Let’s go,” David instructs. “There’s a lot to do today.”

       And there really is on Harry’s part. Five clients in one day and Harry has never been so disgusted or exhausted before in his life. He somewhat knew that actually going to client’s homes or meeting them in hotels or wherever would mean that there will be more clients, but he didn’t expect to have that many in one twenty-four hour day.

       This goes on for the next few days and Harry’s bones begin to feel heavier. He doesn’t understand why his uncle is making him go out and do these horrible actions so many times a day with so many different people. Harry is tired of it all and David is working him to death—Harry is woken up early in the morning after getting into bed very late at night with very little food since there is never time for a full meal.

       On the fourth day, Harry is so worn out that he cannot get out of bed. He tries, but he is weary and sick. There are dark bags under his eyes and his nose is red from the constant sniffles he has.

       David is not having his nephew lay in bed all day when there is money to be made, so he yells because yelling will clearly make a sick person feel better. “You worthless shit, get up! You’re costing me thousands right now. Get the fuck up!”

       Harry lifts his head and it only takes a second before it falls back onto the pillow. He wants to cover his ears, shut off his hearing because what his uncle is saying is nasty and mean. It’s not Harry’s fault, but that doesn’t matter; it won’t stop David from yelling at full volume.

       “This is why you have no one, you shit! You want to live under my roof and make a mockery of me?” David continues. “You think you can get away with it? Fuck no! Get up!” He shoves Harry’s shoulders with such force that Harry falls off the twin-sized bed with a loud thump.

       The eighteen year old clutches his elbow, which broke the fall. Harry knows he didn’t break the bone, but it still hurts like hell. He is about to open his mouth and try to negotiate with his uncle to see if he can get out of the day’s clients. It is clear that Harry is not feeling well and his uncle shouldn’t force him more than usual because of it. Harry is preparing to say something along the lines of how he won’t perform well if he’s sick which will make David lose money or clients, or even both.

       When Harry has the first word at the tip of his tongue, it does not come out, but instead an oof. David kicks his nephew in the ribs for the second time and pain is taking no time to spread in Harry’s body.  The man kicks Harry a few more times before stopping. He yells out in anger as he looks at the boy at his feet—Harry is crouched in the fetal position on the floor, he is trying to make himself as small as possible in hopes of just disappearing from that very moment.

       David stomps out of the bedroom with a snarl. Time is ticking away and his source of money is about to be taken away. When Louis approached him with the offer, David figured it is a good idea; it is free money, basically, and who doesn’t love free things? However, by selling Harry, because face it, that is what he is doing, David will have to drop all of the clients and he really doesn’t want to do that. He has made a lot of money these past two years without having to do anything himself. He’s been living a good life, at least, that’s what he thinks.

       David should tell Harry about the deal, but he chooses not to. Louis has promised a lot of money and David does not believe he can come with all of it by the end of the week. There is only three days left and he has a feeling the deal will be off. Louis is barely an adult and he works at a club, how much could he possibly make? David shakes his head and picks up his mobile. He has to make some calls and cancel some appointments because of Harry; however, tomorrow, Harry won’t be getting off so easily. If the deal happens to go through somehow with magic fairy dust or whatever, David wants as much money as possible, so that’s why he has so many clients lined up for this week.

       This man is a greedy bastard and that is all that he is.

~

       Jay parks the car in the lot right outside of the bank. Louis places his hand on the handle to open the door, but Jay stops him. “What is the real reason that you need this money?” she asks him. “You said you’ll explain, but you haven’t.” Louis had spent the night in his parent’s house the night before, so they could go to the bank bright and early in the morning.

       Louis sighs. He should know that there is no telling his mother the partial truth without her pestering him for the full truth. He begins to think of ways to form a sentence that will explain it all. I am helping a prostitute that I never spoke to by buying him from this man to save him. No. This guy needs help, so I’m helping him by buying him from the man who is sexing him around. No. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I need that money to help someone out of a bad situation. That could work, but no. He sighs again. “Mum, I just . . . It’s serious and I need to do this.”

       “Need to do what?”

       His eyes meet his mother’s. “Save him,” he answers. “And this is the only way.” Jay is about to speak, but Louis keeps talking. “It’s not his fault, I know it’s not. I have to help him and get him out, so he can do something that he wants to do with his life. He’s young and he shouldn’t have to live life this way. I know I’m asking for a lot, but I truly believe it is for a good cause.”

       She squeezes her son’s hand as her eyes sting with tears. “There’s no doubt in my mind about that and it makes me proud that you’re going through all of this trouble just to help someone.”

       And now it’s Louis’ turn to fill his eyes with tears. His mother just said she is proud of him and that brings a warm feeling to his heart. He’s doing the right thing. “Thanks, mum.”

       Mother and son walk in the bank and straight to a teller. Most people will get a cocked brow when asking for such a large amount of money, but since they are the Tomlinson’s and it is well-known of their monetary value, there are no questioning looks.

       When they walk out some time later, Louis thanks his mother again. He has to wait a full twenty-four hours before he can move the money from his account to David’s and that is okay since there are still five days left of the week. He smiles a little with the thought that one part of his plan is actually complete, but the smile drops with the thoughts of everything else he has to do.

       “What’s his name?”

       Louis snaps out of his thoughts. “What?” he asks, confuzzled.

       Jay chuckles. “The person you’re helping, silly. You never told me and I’d like to know the name of the person my son is paying for.”

       His heart drops. How does his mother know that he’s buying someone? Did someone tell her? But, no one knows except a few people. Did Zayn or Tori tell her? Shit. Louis doesn’t want to tell Jay that one part to the whole story, which yes, it is the main part, but she can’t know. Not now because the second he tells her, Louis doubts she’ll feel proud of him anymore. She’ll probably whack him and give him a long lecture on how stupid the whole situation is.

       “Louis, are you alright?”

       He nods. It takes him a minute, but he finally says, “His name is Harry. H-Harry is the one I’m helping.” He is thinking too much of it. His mother doesn’t know.

       “Oh,” she smiles. “I’m sure Harry is a delightful person.”

           I sure hope so, Louis thinks to himself. Out loud, he says, “Yeah.”

       When Jay pulls up the driveway, she asks her son, “What are you doing this upcoming Friday? I was thinking all of us could go get lunch and maybe you can hang out. The girls would love that.”

       “I can’t,” Louis frowns. He misses his family, especially all of his sister’s, but he really can’t.

       “And why not?”

           Truth or Lie? Truth or Lie? Louis thinks. Oh, might as well . . . “Because,” he pauses. “I might possibly, maybe be getting married.”

       Jay snaps her head to the side so she can look at Louis. “What?”

       He smiles sheepishly at her.

       “Louis William Tomlinson, that is not funny.” Her voice is strong and full of motherly order.

       “It’s not supposed to be,” he tells her. “It is a very well chance that I’ll be getting hitched next weekend.” He doesn't like lying to his mum , so he comes clean.

       “Tell me you’re joking.”

       “I’m not.”

       “You have lots of explaining to do.”

       He sighs. “I know.”

       That night, Louis heads back to his London home. He spent the majority of the day trying to explain to his mother why he is doing something so drastic and serious. It was difficult because he is unsure himself. Louis knows this is what he has to do, but he just doesn’t have a solid reason why other than to save Harry from a forced life of prostitution. Jay wasn’t extremely upset because she saw how much Louis is willing to do this for Harry; however, that didn’t stop her from yelling. She had to assure Louis that she didn’t hate him and that this isn’t the worst possible decision he could have made. She even told him that she was still proud because not many people do something like this.

       A couple days later on Wednesday, the constant ringing of his phone by his pillow wakes Louis up. “Hello?” he answers, voice filled with sleep, and without looking at the caller ID.

       “Shit, did I wake you up?”

       “Depends on who’s asking.”

       She laughs. “It’s Tori and you need to wake up because you need to be fully aware when I have this conversation with you.”

       He pouts even though he knows she can’t see him. Louis sits up, letting the duvet slide off his body. “Fine, ‘m up.” He rubs his eyes and clears his throat. “What do you have to tell me?”

       “Before that, have you told anyone else about this whole thing?” she asks.

       “Yeah, my mum, actually. I had to get some money from her, so I told her,” he replies. “Is that a problem?”

       “No, no,” she assures him. “I was just wondering.”

       “I’m glad she didn’t get pissed and disown me like Zayn did. I mean, she was angry, but not all that much. I think she’s okay with it,” Louis tells her.

       “Really? She didn’t say anything about the fact that you’ll be getting married to a guy? Or, did you not mention that part yet?”

       “Honestly Tori, I don’t think my mum’s connected the dots yet. She’s still wrapping her head around the whole idea.” Louis plays with a loose thread on his duvet. “I’m still wrapping my head around the whole idea.”

       “I would be, too,” Tori agrees. “But I have to ask you, what is Harry’s last name?”

       “Oh, it’s. . . ” He pauses and thinks back to the conversation he had with David last Friday. Louis furrows his brow and then face palms. “Shit.”

       “Lou?”

       “Shit,” he repeats. “Shit, shitshitshitshitshit, mother fucking shit,” he rambles.

       “Louis? What happened? What’s wrong?”

       “I don’t know his last name,” Louis says. “I just transferred £500,000 out of my account and I do not even know the last name of the person I’m trying to help. What the hell is wrong with me? Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Maybe I can stop the transfer. Maybe we can all just forget this all happened. Maybe I can—”

       “Louis!” Tori cuts him off. “Calm down. I know it seems like a lot because it is and all, but cool it. Everything is in motion and you can’t quit now. You can’t give up on Harry, you hear me? Remember what you told me in my office about how much you want to help him. That’s what matters here, okay? There is nothing wrong with you. You are a good person.”

       He takes a deep breath or two. “But what if I’m making a mistake? What if I get into trouble by doing it this way?”

       “You won’t,” she comforts him. “I will make sure that this goes down as legal as possible. The restraining order is being written up and that’s why I needed Harry’s last name. It’s okay if you don’t know it because I can go another route.”

       “Are you sure? I can call David and ask him, but then again, he might not tell the truth.” Louis rubs his face with his free hand. He kind of wishes he thought of all the repercussions before making the deal with David.

       “Yes,” Danielle answers. “I always have a plan B.” She smiles to herself for a moment. “And just to confirm, the man’s name is David Styles?”

       “According to his bank account, yes.”

       “Okay, great,” she says. “One last thing, I found the perfect place for everything. Grab a pen and paper and copy down the address. I made the appointment at one so make sure you’re there by noon. Actually, everyone has to be there on time if you want it to go smoothly.”

       Louis swallows. “I’ll try my best.”

       Danielle tells him the address and he writes it down on the back on a receipt that is lying on his bedside table. The closer Friday gets, the more anxious Louis gets. As weird as it feels, everything is falling into place and Louis doesn’t know what to think of it.

       The following morning, Louis is woken up again by his phone. This time he glances at the name and his blue eyes go wide at the five letters. He quickly composes himself before he answers the call. “Hello?” his voice is even and calm.

       “Um, hi. Is this Louis?”

       “Yes.”

       “Just making sure I got your number correctly. It’s David from the other night and I’m calling to ask if you are still willing to go through with it.” David sounds smug because he still believes Louis will back out.

       Louis bites the inside of the cheek to prevent himself from saying anything unprofessional. “Mr. Styles, of course I am still willing. In fact, the money should be available to you in your account tomorrow right around the time we are set to meet.”

       “And what time would that be?” David asks.

       “Noon sharp,” Louis replies. “Here’s the address and don’t be late.” He reads him the address slowly so David gets it perfectly. “Is there anything else I can help you with, Mr. Styles?” His voice has a hint of smug, but he’s trying to contain it.

       “None at all,” he replies. “I just wanted to know if I will be wasting a trip tomorrow or not.”

       “You won’t be.”

       “Alright then.”

       “Alright.”

       “I’ll have the money tomorrow at noon?” David confirms.

       “As long as I have Harry at noon.”

       “Alright.”

       “Alright, until tomorrow.” Louis ends the call and falls back on his pillows. Tomorrow is the big day and he feels like he can’t move. He slides his hand over his phone before he sends a text message and prays for the best. Tomorrow at noon is when it all happens. Louis gulps before dropping his phone onto his bed and burying his head under his pillow.

       Tomorrow is less than a day away.


	6. 06

       Harry collapses onto his bed when he returns home late at night on Thursday. His uncle has been working him a lot and being that active while being ill is not a good combination. Harry has not had the time to recover fully and it almost feels like the headache he’s been having is never ending.

       Just when Harry is about to slip into the unconsciousness of sleeping, David turns the knob of his door roughly and barges in. He throws a travel bag at Harry and says, “Pack your shit.”

       He slowly glances up at his uncle. “For how long?”

       “Just pack everything.” David leaves the room without any more explanation.

       Harry is starting to see a pattern in his uncle’s behavior for the past week, but he is too tired to think much of it at the moment. At a sluggish pace, Harry stalks over to his closet and begins pulling his clothes off the hangers and throwing them onto his bed. Once the closet is completely free of clothes, he stands over his bed and folds the items of clothing and places them neatly into the bag. This task doesn’t take long because Harry does not have a lot of clothes—about eight shirts, well seven since he’s wearing one now, two pairs of jeans, his gray pea coat, and a jumper.

       After all of his clothes are packed, there is still room in the bag so Harry begins to search through his drawers for any knickknacks he might have. He finds papers and notebooks from when he went to school filled with information that is useless to Harry now. He keeps looking and finds little things like the handball he played with as a child and a box of crayons he used to color with. The majority of what is in the drawers are what he placed in there when Harry was a little kid. He hasn’t gone through the drawers in years and soon realizes that all of it is junk and turns away from them.

       He walks over to his bedside table and pulls the drawer open to reveal the one item he keeps in there. Harry pulls out the picture frame and holds it close to his heart. This is the only photo he has of his parents and he’s held on to it for over a decade. This is the only piece he has of his parents at all. This is the only thing he can look at and remember that there was a time where his future was bright. Harry kisses the frame before slipping it into the bag, covering it protectively with his jumper.

       After zipping the bag up, Harry places it by the door. He looks around his room and laughs to himself. This was never his room and now that the few things that he can call his own are packed up in a single bag, this room really is just another room. Once the bag is gone, there will be no Harry and it will be like he hasn’t been here since he was seven; it will be like he hasn’t been alive for all these years and it will be like Harry is nonexistent.

       With a flick of the light switch, the eighteen-year-old heads to bed. Harry pulls his duvet over his body and closes his eyes, hoping that David has no one expecting them in the morning. Harry needs a good night of sleep, which he hasn’t had for a week now and it is really dragging him down. He snuggles into his pillow and tries to silence his thoughts. His uncle probably has some client that’s a bit far and they have to go a little trip or something to get to him or her. Harry shrugs off the thought and lets himself fall asleep.

~

       Louis is pacing back and forth, biting his nails in all nervousness. He checks the time on his phone and starts pacing even faster. He’s late. He’s always late, but today is not the day, Louis says to himself. A line of sweat begins to form by Louis’ hairline even though the London air is cool and he is close to having a full-on panic attack. He can feel his breathing go crazy and he’s so antsy that he can’t stand still. God, where is he?

       He checks the time again and instead of biting his fingernail, Louis bites his finger. “Fuck!” he exclaims, sucking on the tip of the finger to calm the throbbing.

       “You look like a complete mess.”

       Louis turns around and momentarily forgets about everything. He shoves his friend’s shoulder. “It’s five ‘til noon! You’re late!” he yells.

       Zayn rubs his shoulder. “Are you seriously yelling at me for being a little late?”

       “A little?” He shakes his head. “No, you’re a half hour late! I told you to be here at 11:30!”

       “By a cryptic text message!” Zayn yells back. “You send me a time and an address and you expect me to pop up after last week? Be happy that I’m here at all! I thought your ass was getting hauled off to prison for what you’re doing and the location did not help!” He points at the building next door which happens to be a police station. “Seriously Lou, what the hell are you doing?”

       “Don’t yell at me!” he says in a raised voice that could be very well considered yelling. “This was the closest place and Tori helped me find it and she helped with it all, so I won’t be going to prison or anything like that. Shit, Zayn, why are you being such an arse?”

       “Why are you being such an idiot? Don’t you know how wrong this whole thing can go?” He steps away from Louis, pulling at the ends of his hair.

       Louis crosses his arms over his chest. “Of course I fucking know! I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I made the deal and shit, yes, I know it’s not the smartest thing to do, but it’s worth it.”

       “How do you know that?”

       “I just do!” Louis puffs out a breath of air. “You’re my friend, no fuck that, you’re my best friend that might as well be my brother. I’ve always stuck by your side and right now, I need you by mine. This is important and serious and shit, I can’t do it alone!” This past week with getting everything together and ready for this very day has been exhausting and scary. Louis wanted to call Zayn, but he knew he’s mad at him and apparently he still is. He wasn’t sure if Zayn would show up today, but he did so that has to mean something.

       Zayn sighs. “Then why do it at all? You don’t even know him.” He is not trying to attack Louis, but trying to reason with him. He wants the best for his best friend and this isn’t it.

       Louis doesn’t have a chance to respond because a black car of some sort pulls up. A man in his forties and a curly-haired boy step out of the car and soon they are standing in front of Louis and Zayn. With a not-so subtle move, Louis glances at the time and sees that it is nearly half past noon. He groans internally for everyone being late. Why can’t everyone just be on time and get along and be happy? Louis is about to pull his hair out in frustration, but for a brief moment, his cerulean land on emerald and he feels a bit better.

       “David,” he begins. “Find the place alright?”

       “Yeah,” the man replies. “Find the bank alright?”

       Looks like the game continues. “Yeah,” Louis says.

       “All of it is there?” David asks.

       “All of it. Check your account and you’ll see it,” he tells him. “I’m sure you’ll be satisfied.” Louis is unsure where this confidence is coming from, but he’s assuming it has to do with the boy who has the curls.

       David pulls his iPhone out of the pocket of his trousers and signs into his bank account via app. While he is looking at that, Harry is just looking at everyone with a confused expression. He recognizes Louis, but can’t put his finger on where he’s seen him before. Also, he has no idea what is going on. This whole thing is nothing like what usually happens when David brings Harry to a client, so he can’t help but wonder what this actually is.

       Zayn grabs the top part of Louis’ arm and pulls him a couple meters back. “What?” Louis asks.

       “What?” Zayn repeats. “What now, Louis? Are you just going to grab that kid’s hand and skip on your merry way?”

       Louis shoots him a blank stare. “No, that is not what I’m going to do.”

       “Then what?”

       “There’s still one more thing to do before this whole thing is over,” he tells him. “Just one last thing and we can all get back to our lives.”

       “You’re buying a person, Lou, how can you possibly get back to your life from that?”

       He sighs. “Zayn, stop being an arse for like a half hour and then you can leave, alright?”

       “What if I want to leave now,” he challenges.

       “You can’t do that,” Louis replies.

       “Well, why not?”

       “Because I need you as my witness.”

       Zayn is about to nod, but he stops himself. “Wait, what?”

       Louis’ phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out to see the alarm he set it going off. “I’ll explain later,” he says before walking back over to Harry and David. David is mesmerized by all the zeros that is presented in front of him, so Louis pretty much figures that the transaction is complete. He gently touches Harry’s arm, but he flinches away. Louis sighs. “Hey, it’s okay. Just come with me, alright? You’ll be fine.” Louis takes one step and waits.

       Harry hesitates. Who is this guy and why is he trying to take Harry somewhere? He clutches the strap to his travel bag that is currently hanging off of his shoulder. He doesn’t know what to do, so he turns his head to look at his uncle for a sign or gesture of what to do.

       David finally looks away from his phone and he has a grin on his face. “Well, it looks like you paid in full,” he says to Louis.

       “I said I was willing to pay and I did,” Louis snaps back. He is tired of David talking to him like he’s an incompetent idiot who can’t do anything right. “And now that you have your money, we’ll be going now.”

       Zayn takes a step towards the building and Louis follows, but stops again since Harry has yet to move. David looks at his nephew and motions for him to go. Harry takes one shaky step forward which makes David say, “Just fucking go,” and then he turns around and walks back to his car. Harry continues standing there without saying a word.

       Louis smiles at him. He almost touches Harry again, but stops himself. “Come on,” Louis says as he motions his head in the direction of the front door. “Everything’s okay, I promise.”

       Harry almost laughs at his words, but bites the inside of his cheek. He shuffles his feet before finally walking forward until he is standing next to Louis. The three boys walk into the building—Zayn is confused as to why he is needed as a witness, Harry is confused as to what kind of place this is for sex, and Louis is just, well, Louis.

       The receptionist looks up when the boys enter. “What can I help you boys with?”

       “I made an appointment, well, I didn’t make it, one of my friends did because I didn’t even know this place was here and right, the appointment with, um—shit, I mean shoot, what was his name—God, this isn’t how this is supposed to go,” Louis rambles.

       “Take a breath,” the receptionist tells him. “Just tell me your name and I’ll tell you where to do.”

       “Louis Tomlinson.”

       She glances down at the appointment book in front of her and uses her index finger to locate his name. She taps the page when she finds it. “The office you are looking for is just through those doors over there,” she points to her left.

       “Thank you,” Louis says.

       “No problem and congratulations,” she smiles.

       He smiles back sheepishly while the other two boys are even more confused. With Louis in the lead, the three walk into the office. There is a desk in the center of the room with a huge shelf of books that take up the whole wall behind it. There is a coat rack by the door and a globe on the desk. Everything is the color of wood and it feels much too legal for Louis to be comfortable with what he is doing.

       A man wearing business attire walks in after them. He shuts the door and extends his hand out. “Hello,” he greets. Louis is the first to shake the man’s hand. “Ah, you must be Louis. Tori has told me much about you”

       “I hope nothing bad.”

       “No, no,” the man shakes his head. “Please,” he gestures toward the chairs, “have a seat.” The four people all sit down; the man behind the desk while Louis sits in the middle chair with Zayn to his right and Harry to his left. “My name is Tom and I’ll be overseeing this whole process,” he says as he pulls out some papers from a file folder on his desk. “Okay, which one is Harry?” he asks, pointing to both Zayn and Harry. Harry raises his hand and Tom smiles.

       “If you don’t mind me asking, how does this process work?” Louis asks.

       “When I spoke to Tori, she said that you lot did not want any of the formalities, so basically we’re just going to go over the basics that are written out here and then you will all be on your way,” Tom answers. “Unless you want the formalities?”

       Louis shakes his head. “No, no need for that.”

       “Ah, eager, I like it.”

       He nods nervously. “Yeah.”

       Zayn wants to hop up from his seat, grab Louis and yell, “What the fuck is going on?” but he can’t. Harry, on the other hand, wants to sink into his seat and disappear forever. Nothing makes sense to him and he has no idea what his uncle was thinking when he set this up.

       “Okay, do you want the long, drawn-out legal version or just the straight-to-the-point version?” Tom asks, looking from Harry to Louis to Harry.

       “Um . . .” Harry mumbles. He feels uncomfortable with Tom looking at him and ends up fidgeting in his chair.

       Louis takes note and directs the attention back to him. “The second one, please.”

       Tom scans the document in front of him briefly before looking back up. “Basically, all you two have to do is sign on the line above where your name is printed and that’s that.” He smiles at the pair. Tom loves when he gets to oversee marriages because there’s just something about two people joining together in love that makes him super happy. It is obvious to him that Louis and Harry are nervous, but he doesn’t question it.

       He sets a paper in front of Harry and points to where Harry should sign. Harry glances at the name and furrows his brow. “Why does it say Harry Tomlinson?” he asks.

       Louis has to stop himself from melting when he hears Harry’s voice. This is the first time Harry has spoken that day and it may not have been directly to him, but he finally said something.

       “Oh, how embarrassing,” Tom says. “You’re not taking his name, are you? Sorry about that.” Tom picks up the phone on his desk and dials an extension. “Hey, we have a name mistake on this certificate.” He pauses. “I know you didn’t know.” He pauses again, but instead of talking to the receiver, he looks at Harry. “What’s your last name?”

       “Styles,” Harry replies. “S-T-Y-L-E-S.” Louis’ heart stops. Harry’s last name is Styles just like David’s which means they are somehow related. This new piece of information makes Louis feel sick because a family member, someone that’s supposed to love you and care for you, is the one making Harry do all of these things.

       “Did you hear that?” Tom asks whoever he is talking to. “Good. Oh, the witness is here, too so might as well type his name.” When he moves the phone away from his face, Zayn already knows what Tom is about to ask him.

       “Zayn Malik,” he says before he is questioned. “Z-A-Y-N M-A-L-I-K.”

       Tom smiles at Zayn before moving the receiver back. “No, Y-N,” he says. “Thanks and I’ll see you in a minute.” Tom hangs up the phone. “I apologize for that. Sometimes mistakes happen.”

       “ ‘s alright,” Louis responds. “After we sign, we’re done?”

       “Yup, that’s the last step.” The way Tom words that answer is mocking Louis because this truly is the last step to his plan to save Harry.

       Someone knocks on the door before walking in. A guy who looks to be about twenty hands a newly printed certificate to Tom before leaving the room. Tom moves the old certificate out of the way and places the new one in its place. “Sign when you are ready,” he says, placing a fancy pen next to the certificate.

       No one moves for a good minute. Harry glances at the paper and notices at the top is reads Marriage Certificate and his eyes go wide. What is going on? Zayn looks over at Louis furiously. What the hell is he thinking? Louis closes his eyes and gulps. What else is there to do?

       Louis glimpses at Harry and he can tell that the boy is confused. He barely has said anything this whole time and Louis can’t help but wonder what is going on inside his head. David, whoever he is to Harry, how did he tell him? Did he sit Harry down and explain how Louis offered him a shit load of money for him? Does he know that he will not be going back to David later this day or ever? Is Harry okay with the fact that he’ll be with Louis from now on?

       With a shaky hand, Louis picks up the pen and signs his name on the line. The pen slips from his hand when he’s done.

“Can we have a moment?” Harry asks Tom, surprising everyone.

       Tom frowns slightly, but composes his expression quickly. “Yes, of course.” He stands up. “I’ll just be outside. Come get me when you’re ready.” Tom leaves the office, closing the door behind him.

       Harry turns to Louis and asks, “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

       “Yeah, Lou, why are we here?” Zayn instigates.

       Louis sighs. Maybe he should have explained before they came in. “We’re all here because this is the only possible way that David won’t be able to take you, er, Harry back.”

       “What do you mean, take me back?” Harry asks.

       Louis frowns. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

       “Tell me what?”

       “That bastard,” Louis mumbles under his breath. He rubs his hands over his face and tries to figure out how to explain this all to Harry in about a minute without out him freaking out and leaving because then Louis would be low a half a million for no reason.

       “Long story short,” Zayn intervenes, “Louis here gave David quite a lot of money for you and now, I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing, but we’re all here. Lou, I think you should take over.” He shoots his friend an unfriendly look and waits for him to start talking.

       “Yeah, that’s basically it,” Louis says. “I really thought he would have told you, Harry.”

       Harry blinks a few times as the new information sinks in. Did his uncle seriously sell him to some guy to be his bitch?  This is unbelievable and Harry feels nothing but resentment towards Louis. Why the fuck would Louis want him? None of this makes sense and Harry is just pissed, just plain-out absolutely pissed.

       “And,” Louis continues. “So David won’t try to take you back, we have to get married and that’s why we’re here. You will have a legal standing after you sign that piece of paper.” Harry still has not said anything; he is sitting there, gripping the arm of the chair which is making his knuckles turn white. “C’mon, please say something.”

       He looks at Louis and utters one single word. “Fine.” There’s no point in trying to fight it or try to stop the process because Harry has no choice. He never has a choice and he’s used to doing whatever his uncle wants.

       “This is so fucked up,” Zayn says with a humorless chuckle.

           I know, Louis thinks to himself. He stands up and gets Tom from the hallway. “Hey, we’re uh, we’re ready now.”

       “Great,” Tom smiles. “Let’s do this.” Once everyone is sitting down again, Tom hands the pen to Harry. “Sign away.”

       Harry takes the pen and scratches his signature on the line. He throws the pen out of his hand and leans back in the chair, which clearly shows his anger. Louis frowns and looks away. He just wanted to do the right thing and this is not how he expected it to go.

       “Now, Zayn, I need you to sign on the witness line,” Tom tells him. Wordlessly, Zayn picks up the pen and signs. Although he signs the certificate, it does not mean Zayn approves of this. Louis may not realize what he’s doing and who Harry really is, but he will eventually.

       Tom takes the certificate and makes a photocopy for his records. He hands the certificate to Louis and sends them on their way, congratulating them on their new life together as a married couple. He expected the couple to be more joyous, but maybe they’re having marital jitters; it is a big step and all in a relationship.

       “Mr. Tomlinson!” someone calls as soon as Louis steps out of the building. He turns his head and sees Tori’s assistant, Marley. She walks over to him and asks, “How’d it go?”

       He shrugs. “It went.”

       “Miss Smith asks for you to call her and tell her in full detail,” Marley reports to him.

       Louis chuckles. “Alright, that’s no problem.”

       She smiles. “She wanted to be here, but a case came up and she apologizes for that. However, here,” she hands Louis two folded pieces of paper. “There are two copies here, one for you and one for him.”

       He automatically knows what the papers are. “Oh, thank you,” he says. “And tell Tori that it’s okay that she couldn’t be here. She helped out a lot, really.”

       Marley’s phone beeps. “I gotta go.” She smiles and he nods. Marley disappears back to the parking lot while Louis holds all three papers carefully in his hand.

       “What’s that?” Zayn asks.

       Louis opens his mouth, but it’s not his voice that comes out. He turns around to find David stalking towards them. He groans internally. “What do you want?” he spats.

       David grabs Harry’s arm and pulls him towards him. “There’s no way you’re taking him.”

       “Oh, for God’s sake!” Louis exclaims. “We had a deal and everything went through, okay?” He shoves the restraining order at David and takes Harry’s arm and gently pulls him. Harry goes along with Louis as he takes him to his car, with Zayn following behind. David can’t get Harry back because Harry is Louis’ now.


	7. 07

       The life Harry has been leading has never been luxurious; he has never owned anything expensive or done anything fancy, well, he’s “done” people who think they’re fancy, but that’s out of context. The privileged life is not something Harry has ever experienced and if his parents were still around, he would have had an average life, nothing special. This is why Harry’s green eyes grow wide when Louis pulls into his driveway.

       Louis parks and turns the car off. He moves his head to face Harry who is sitting in the passenger seat. “So, um . . . yeah.” The older boy doesn’t know what to say to Harry about the whole situation. He was about to say something along the lines of “Welcome to your new home,” but it just didn’t feel right. Louis unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car. Harry follows Louis to the front door and when Louis unlocks the door, he says, “Sorry about the mess,” and then walks in.

       Harry halts in the doorway. From what he can see of the house, he can tell that it is all nice and fresh, and not a place for him since he’s broken and dirty. Louis senses his hesitation and shoots him an encouraging smile, hoping Harry will lose the tension. Harry takes a shaky step forward and crosses the threshold into the house.

       “It’s not the cleanest and the tiles in the main bathroom are the ugliest thing ever, but it’s still a house that’s mostly nice.” Louis shuts the door and with a click of the lock, he takes a breath. He walks around Harry so he can face him. Louis has to look up because Harry is a bit taller than him, which he finds ridiculous. “Look, I know this all happened behind your back and I apologize for that, but we can get past this, okay?”

       He doesn’t say anything; Harry just shifts the strap of his bag on his shoulder and walks farther into the house. The first room is the living room which has to be double the size of the living room at his uncle’s house. There is an arrangement of couches—all with the same brown fabric, but different variations—around the room and a big, flat screen television hanging on the wall. There are shelves directly below it that are filled with DVDs and Blu-Rays and Harry assumes that Louis owns just about every movie ever filmed. On the opposite wall, it is covered with picture frames of all sizes and shapes which gave the room a warm feeling.

       Down a short hallway, the kitchen comes into view and Harry nearly drops his bag. All of the stainless steel appliances are pristine and clean; the kitchen practically looks untouched with it’s marble counters and black and white checkered floor tiles. The counters are long and spacious and the island in the center of everything is just beautiful. There is a six-person table to the side of the room where it outlooks on to the backyard. This is a dream kitchen for someone who enjoys cooking, someone like Harry. Part of him wants to stop and admire the room, but then he remembers where he is and why. The admiration wipes away from Harry’s face and he clutches the strap of his bag just to hold on to something.

       Louis stops momentarily when he notices Harry appreciate the kitchen. “I’ve lived here for about a half year and I barely use anything in there. I tend to eat out a lot.” Harry doesn’t even glance at Louis when he says this, so Louis turns a corner and heads up the stairs, knowing that Harry is behind him. When they reach the top of the stairs, Louis leads the younger boy to the last door in the hall. As he turns the knob, he says, “This is where you’ll be sleeping.”

       The first thing Harry notices about the bedroom is that the bed is unmade. He turns about forty-five degrees to his right and sees little knickknacks on top of the dresser. The closet door is slightly ajar and there are clearly clothes inside of it. Harry whips around. “This is your room.”

       “No,” Louis corrects, “This is our room”

       “Why?” he snarls.

       “Because that’s just how things go here,” Louis answers and Harry rolls his eyes. Louis just did the greatest thing he could do for Harry and as much as Harry’s attitude sucks and as much as Louis has yet to feel any gratefulness from Harry, he is still not backing down. He saved Harry and everything will get better if Louis has anything to do with it.

           Or, it’s just your way of having easy access to having your way with me, Harry thinks to himself. He doesn’t know why, but part of what Zayn had said back in the parking lot is stuck with him. “Fine,” Harry mumbles, letting the strap fall from his shoulder and onto his hand.

       With a few strides, Louis crosses the room and pulls his closet door open. He grabs the first group of empty hangers and pulls them out. He places them on the bed before turning towards the dresser and pulling the top drawer open. “How much room d’you think you need?” he asks as he smashes the three piles of shirts in the drawer together and picks them up.

       “Not much.”

       He sighs. Harry obviously is not going to make this easy and right now, Louis is tired from trying so hard. He fought David to get Harry out in the most legal way possible, marrying Harry and all, and this is how the day is turning out. It should have been a victory and they should be celebrating, but it’s not happening. No one is happy—Zayn is pissed, which he vocalized clearly in the parking lot; Harry is peeved, which he is showing clearly; and Louis is defeated, which he clearly can’t hide. He throws the messy pile of clothes in his hands on the floor of his closet. “If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.” Louis turns away from Harry and leaves the room, crushed. Maybe some space will lighten the mood, Louis thinks to himself as he walks down the stairs.

       Louis turns on the kettle once he is in the kitchen and begins to prepare himself a cup of tea. The sky is dark and the day is practically over, and so much happens that a cup of tea is just what he needs. Well, maybe not just what he needs, but it will be enough for now. What he really needs is the memory of Zayn yelling in his face to go away forever.

~

       Exactly eight cars away from his own car, Louis is pulled to a stop. He drops Harry’s arm as he turns around and faces his best friend who still has a firm grip on him. Zayn’s brown eyes are wild and Louis knows that, that only happens when Zayn is about to blow.

       “What the fuck was that?” Zayn yells.

       “Don’t fucking yell at me!” Louis barks right back, snatching his arm away. “Why are you so pissed?”

       Zayn laughs humorlessly. “Are you shitting me right now?” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Lou, you just got married to that,” he points at Harry. “Do you know how fucking stupid this all is?”

       “That has a name! That is Harry! And yes,” Louis says, “I fucking know, but I had to do it.”

       “No, you didn’t!”

       “Oh, what the fuck do you know?”

       “I know that you’re ruining your life by doing this!” Zayn screams. “What are people gonna say when they find out that you married a fucking prostitute? Huh, Louis? What’re you gonna do?”

       Louis crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t give a shit what people say about me.”

       “Now that’s a lie.”

       “Fuck, Zayn, why are you being like this?” Louis exclaims. “Why can’t you just be my best friend and help me instead of yell at me?”

       Zayn groans at his friend’s thick skull. He’s been telling Louis how much he does not approve of this and why he’s pissed, yet Louis still doesn’t get it. “I’m not gonna help you fuck up your life.”

       This time Louis laughs humorlessly. “Looks like you already did the moment you signed your name on the witness line. You are very much a part of this just as much as we are.”

       “Oh-ho-ho, you’re a we now, huh?” he asks sarcastically. “That’s brilliant.”

       “Shut up.”

       “No, I will not shut up,” Zayn retorts. “What the fuck happened to the Louis Tomlinson who escaped his family name and did his own thing? What happened to the Louis who had a dream and went for it? What in the hell happened to the Lou who actually had sense and a bright future? What happened to that guy?”

       The words sting, especially coming from Zayn, but Louis does not let it show that they fazed him. “I am still doing my own thing. I am still working at my dream. And I still have a bright future. Better question is what the hell happened to the Zayn Malik who had my back no matter what?”

       “I still have your back, but it’s just wrong and stupid for you to get married over this. It’s not right and you can do so much with your life and this is not it. Sorry, Lou, but I can’t have your back on this one.”

       “Ugh,” Louis groans in frustration.

       “And what gets me the most,” Zayn continues. “Is that you have had like one relationship ever, with a girl just to point that out, and  years and years later, you get married to a stranger that happens to be a bloke. What the fuck is up with that?”

       “Zayn—”

       “And that you said that first night that you don’t fancy guys and yet here we all are, just coming back from you signing that very piece of paper in your hand that makes you officially married to another guy.” Zayn laughs. “Lying to your best mate, that’s fucked up.”

       “No, what’s fucked up is when your best mate is being an inconsiderate mother fucking arsehole with no respect!” Louis refutes. “If you were really my best mate, you would have never just said all of that shit.”

       “Oh, right, I’m the bad friend because I want what’s best for you, that makes a shit load of sense.”

       The two friends have a stare-down while Harry continues standing off to the side. The curly-haired boy figured the two are really good friends, but after this conversation, he doubts the friendship will last much longer. Harry finds this absurd because why would Louis throw his life away, according to Zayn, just to get Harry away from David? Why does it matter so much to Louis? Why does he keep defending Harry and the situation even if it means that he loses his best friend? Why would he do that?

       Zayn chuckles harshly which makes Louis asks, “What the fuck is so funny?”

       “Do you know what married couples do after they get married?”

       Louis glares at Zayn. Where the hell is he going with this?

       “They fuck,” he laughs. “They have all this build-up and then they get married and as soon as they’re off, they fuck each other’s brains out. No wonder you fucking got married. It all makes sense now.”

       Louis pinches the bridge of his nose. Zayn has fucking lost it. “No, that is not why I got married. That doesn’t make any sense. Do you even know what you’re saying anymore other than how much of a prick you are?”

       “No, Louis, mate, just admit it. It’s out now and,” Zayn swings his arm around Louis’ shoulders, “there were much easier and cheaper ways to get it done. Hell, I’m positive that Harry would have done the deed without having to get hitched. Damn, Lou.”

       The color drains out of Louis’ face when he realizes what Zayn is trying to say. “Zayn, are you serious right now? Is that what you really think? That I can’t get sex so I’m just gonna go out and marry someone for it.”

       “Why else did you buy him out of all people then?”

       “Fuck you,” Louis tiffs, throwing Zayn’s arm off.

       “That’s his job, not mine,” Zayn says. His tone is mocking and harsh and Louis has had it.

       “You know what Zayn, fuck you. I don’t need this right now. You want to be an arse and do all of this shit, then fine! I don’t need you. Go fuck yourself!” Louis yells.

       Zayn backs away from Louis. He is about to turn around and walk to his own car, but he stops himself. “At least I didn’t marry a fucking prostitute to lose my virginity!” Zayn screams at the top of his lungs before walking away, leaving his best friend and newly husband behind.

~

       Just like the short amount of time Harry took to pack up his things, it takes him even less time to unpack. He hangs his coat and his jumper in the closet, but makes sure there is a noticeable gap between all of Louis’ clothes and his. He takes the neat pile of clothes from his bag and places them in the drawer. It saddens him to think that the rest of these drawers are filled with Louis’ clothes and Harry barely fills up one.

       Harry lingers around the room for a while, not really sure what to do. He sits on the edge of the bed and his body virtually melts at how soft and comfortable the mattress is. He presses his hands into the mattress and decides that he has never sat on something like this before. Because no one is around, Harry lies back and it takes him no time to get comfortable. Maybe this whole thing won’t be so bad. Maybe this job has actual perks. And maybe Harry can get used to all of this.

       About an hour goes by before Harry snaps his eyes open. He must have fallen asleep and it’s all the mattress’ fault. It takes him a lot of willpower, but Harry gets up from the bed and saunters over to the joint bathroom. As soon as he pushes the door open, Harry is amazed once again. The bathroom has to be the size of his entire bedroom back at David’s house and he doesn’t understand why he keeps letting the amazement get to him. Louis is wealthy, that is clear as clear can be, so why is every new thing a surprise?

       The same time Harry steps out of the bathroom is the same time Louis steps into the bedroom. “Is everything alright?” Louis asks.

       Harry shrugs.

       “Are you not going to speak to me?”

       He shrugs again. “I don’t have much to say, to be honest.”

       “Oh.” Louis drops his head. The two boys just stand in the two doorways, awkwardly and quietly. In a minute, Louis strides over to his dresser and pulls open the fourth drawer. “It’s um . . . getting late and uh,” he pauses. Why the hell can’t he just speak normally? Louis starts over. “It’s getting late and I was just . . .” He sighs. “Fuck it,” Louis mumbles as he pulls out one of his older t-shirts.

       Harry moves out of the way when Louis goes towards him to get to the bathroom. Louis shuts the door behind him and Harry ends up staring down at the floor. He realizes he is still wearing his ratty, old shoes so he sits down on the edge of the bed again and takes them off. The room is not the cleanest, but Harry doesn’t want to throw anything off, so he slides his shoes under the corner of the bed and out of sight.

       When Louis emerges from the bathroom, he is wearing a t-shirt and his boxers. The throws his previously worn clothes in the hamper to avoid eye contact with Harry because Harry is staring. Louis’ not one to sleep in much clothes, but since he’ll be sharing a bed with someone, he rather not freak him out. Harry stands up and Louis asks, “D’you need anything?”

       Harry shakes his head, so Louis crosses his room and goes to the other side of the bed. He sits down and pulls open the first drawer of his bedside table. Louis takes out his eye glasses and a book; he hasn’t read before bed in weeks because Louis’ been too preoccupied with trying to save Harry that he’s attempting to bring back a little normalcy to his life.

       The older boy flips the page, but doesn’t keep reading. Louis looks up to find Harry still standing there. “You don’t have to stand, y’know,” Louis says. “I have four younger sisters, so I know how to share.”

       Very hesitantly, Harry sits on the bed next to Louis, but there is quite a gap between them. This moment is so out of the ordinary for Harry that he is afraid to move. What if he does something wrong? What if Louis isn’t as nice as he seems and starts hitting Harry like David does? What if Louis is about to yell since Harry isn’t doing what he has been paid for?

       The younger boy sits back against the pillow and waits for Louis to finish reading because he doesn’t want to disturb him. Louis reads for a half hour, trying to overlook the fact that Harry is sitting there in a very stiff manner. Louis places the book and his glasses back in his drawer as he asks, “Do you want something to eat? You haven’t had any food and I don’t want you to starve or anything.” There is concern in those words, but Harry chooses to ignore it.

       “ ‘m fine,” Harry mutters.

       Louis sighs for the hundredth time that day, but doesn’t say anything more. He will get through to Harry, but it is impossible this first night so he lets it go. Louis moves down the bed about a foot so he can lie down. He lifts his body a bit to get the duvet from under his body and once it is placed over his skin, he turns off the bedside lamp on his side, leaving the room half-dark.

       Harry moves over slightly, but not too much and he goes under the duvet as well. He doesn’t lay down, but instead adjusts his posture so his arm can reach out easily. Harry takes a deep breath before he slowly inches his hand towards Louis. He finds the waistband of Louis’ boxers and slips his hand in. “Harry, what are you – oh.”

       This is just another job to Harry; there are no feelings or enjoyment as he works his hand because this is just what he does. Louis, on the other hand, feels a pang in his chest and that pang almost feels like hope.

  
  



	8. 08

       A day passes and Harry wonders when Louis will tell him to get off his arse and do something. Literally all Harry has been doing this Saturday is sitting and as overwhelming as it can be to be alone with his thoughts, Harry is honestly bored. He knows it’s only been a day and he knows how much he was grateful for the time he had to himself when he was living with David, but it just feels weird to have all this time and nothing to do with it. Surely Louis has some plan for Harry, right?

       Harry rolls off of the bed and stands up immediately after his feet touch the carpeted ground. Since he arrived in this house, Harry has been debating on whether or not it is safe for him to take out the picture of his parents. If this house were to catch on fire, the photograph is the one thing Harry would run back inside for.

       This bedroom is Louis, even if Harry doesn’t quite know what that means he knows it represents the guy with feather-brown hair and ocean-blue eyes. The room is not exactly messy, but there are sources of clutter everywhere: the closet floor is filled with clothes and shoes, the top of the dresser has all kinds of oddments on top of it, and the nightstand on Louis’ side is covered with pictures. Harry has been staring at the pictures all day, wondering who the other people are in them. He doesn’t know how, but he can always pick out Louis in the photos, even the ones from when Louis was a child.

       This is our room.

       Those four words cross Harry’s thoughts for the umpteenth time in his time spent in the room. What does that even mean—our room? How can it be both of their rooms when Louis doesn’t even know Harry? It’s not like they both just moved into a residence hall for university and ended up as roommates, thus making the room both theirs. It doesn’t make sense to him and the more he thinks about it, the more frustrated he gets. Why would Louis buy him? Why would David let Louis buy him? Why is Harry really here? Why? Why? Why?

       Before Harry rips out his curly hair, he surges forward and out of the bedroom for the first time since he came to Louis’ house. He thought about it a few times, leaving the room to go eat something or drink something or just do something, but he never did it, not until now anyways. When he gets down the stairs, Harry is unsure which way to go. The night before, he did not get a grand tour of the house and he does not quite remember which way he came in.

       He decides to go left and within moments, he finds himself in the living room. Harry stands next to the couch for a minute, awkwardly staring out the window when he remembers why he came downstairs in the first place. He needs to do something, a task of some sort to distract himself from pondering on all the questions. And then it hits him. Harry walks over to the shelves of DVDs and begins to grab them in stacks and place them on the floor. Once every single case is cleared from the mahogany shelf, Harry squats over the DVDs and begins to sort through them. What better way to distract yourself then alphabetizing hundreds and hundreds of DVDs?

       While Harry is organizing, Louis is out running errands. He was hoping his to-do list for the day would only take a couple hours, but it is taking way longer. Louis has been running all over town for the past four hours getting supplies for the Red Wave. Inventory is running low, so as the owner, it up to Louis to restock the assets of the club.

       And no, Louis is not avoiding Harry because of last night’s occurrence. He’s not.

       Around nine that morning, Louis scooted out of bed, into clothes, and out of the house without a sound. Harry didn’t stir or wake-up or anything as Louis did this, and it was a bit of relief for him. Louis wants to kick himself in the arse every time he thinks back to the night before. He should have stopped Harry. He should have explained to him why he’s there. He should have told Harry the reason he saved him. He should have done a lot of things, but it just felt so good.

       The older boy is ashamed of himself and he doesn’t even know what to say to Harry after that. He did not buy Harry for sex, he didn’t. He bought Harry to get him out of a bad situation and for him to have a better life, not please Louis in a way that no one has ever pleased him before. Louis goes into his car and rests his head against the steering wheel without starting the car. His errands are done—he just dropped off a massive load of liquor to the club and now his only obligation is to go home to his husband.

       Louis bangs his head against the wheel, which makes the horn beep and startling him from the sudden, loud noise. He turns the key in the ignition and pulls out of the car park, and begins aimlessly driving around. He needs to figure out what to say to Harry. He needs to figure out what he’s going to do with this situation. He needs to figure out when Zayn will stop being an arse, so he has someone to talk to about all of this. He needs to figure out what to do if anyone finds out about the transaction he had with David. He needs to figure out—

       All thoughts fade away when Louis spots a mobile store. He pulls into the car park and rushes inside to avoid getting soaked by the rain. It only takes him a half hour to add on another line to his contract and pick out a phone for the new line. Louis is unsure why he just bought another phone, but he shrugs off the uncertainty as he heads back to his car and finally drives home.

       Right when he parks his car in his driveway, his mother calls him. “Hello?” Louis answers, turning the car off.

       “Louis, darling, how’d everything go?” Jay asks, partially out of curiosity and partially out of concern.

       “Um . . .” He really doesn’t want to lie, but he can’t tell her the exact truth. “Well, it went well,” he responses after a moment. “Just about everything went smoothly.”

       “What didn’t?”

       “Well, that man tried to take Harry back, but I gave him the restraining order and got Harry out of there,” Louis says. “And then Zayn yelled a bit, but overall, everything is okay.”

       Jay can sense that this is hard for her son, especially if his best friend is not on the same page as him. She can’t help but sympathize for him so she comes up with an idea. “If that’s the case,” she says, “and since you couldn’t make it home this weekend because of everything, you should try to make it here on Monday.”

       Louis knows that when his mother says try, she really means that he better get himself to Doncaster one way or another. He sighs as he mentally goes through any obligations he might have for the next few days. “I don’t know, mum. I have the club and—”

       She cuts him off. “Louis, I am your mum and I know you. Stop pulling excuses out of your bum and make the trip. The girls miss you and so do I.”

       “I was there like not even two weeks ago,” he argues.

       “Doesn’t matter,” Jay retorts. “And I’d love to meet the boy my son is helping. Is that so much to ask for?” her voice is gentle and full of intention to make Louis feel guilty.

       “Fine,” he agrees after a couple minutes. “But I can’t promise that it will be a good visit or anything.”

       “That’s fine,” Jay chirps. “I just want to see for myself.”

       “See what?”

       There’s a pause and Louis does not like it. “Oh, I have to go. Laura is calling on the other line and we have an event coming up. I’ll see you soon, bye darling.” And then she hangs up.

       Louis pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a few deep breaths before getting out of his car. When he gets inside of the house, he finds Harry with a stack of DVDs in his hand while standing in front of the TV. He can’t help but think of how cute Harry looks as he is concentrating on the movie titles in front of him. Louis shifts the retail bag with the phone in it from his right hand to his left to change his thought process. “Hi,” he says, getting Harry’s attention.

       Harry snaps his head in the direction of Louis’ voice and just stands there. It’s like he forgets what he was doing and why he was doing it. He swallows a gulp of air before choking out a quiet hello.

       “Are those,” Louis gestures towards the DVDs in Harry’s hand, “movies you want to watch?”

       “Um…” He looks down at his hands and with one quick movement, he places the DVDs on the shelf with the rest. Harry doesn’t know how long he has been doing this task, but it has to have been a while.

       The older boy can see Harry’s uneasiness, so he shoots him a smile. Maybe he feels odd after last night, too, Louis thinks. Maybe he doesn’t know what to say. Before Louis gets lost in his thoughts again, he starts talking. “I actually have something for you,” he says as he reaches into the bag. “I figured you didn’t have one, so . . .” he trails off. Louis pulls the box out and holds it out for Harry to take.

       Harry eyes the box and sees that it’s a phone. “Why?”

       “Because you need to be able to keep in contact with people.” He has to refrain from using any mean terms, but he wants to. Why can’t Harry stop being so closed-off and stubborn and just get with the program?

       “I don’t have anyone,” Harry says honestly.

       “But you will.” Louis is sure of this. “Harry, just take the phone. I don’t care if you use it or leave it in a drawer, but just take it. However, you have to have it with you if you leave this house.”

       “Leave?” Harry knew Louis wouldn’t keep him around forever.

       He nods. “Yeah, like if you go out to the store or the park or something. If you need a ride back or get lost, you’ll have a way to call me.” Harry opens his mouth to say something, but he closes it right away because what is he to say to that and Louis is still talking. “And speaking of leaving, on Monday, we’ll be taking a short trip. From past experience, I’d pack an overnight bag if I were you.”

           But you’re not me, Harry thinks to himself.

~

       Monday comes rather quickly. Louis stocked up on various snacks for the trip the day before with no input from Harry on what he wanted. On the contrary, Harry continued his nightly jobs with some input from Louis on what he wanted, granted it was based on sounds of approval or pleasure rather than actual words.

       Louis has chosen not to talk about it even though he knows he should. Harry should not be doing those things—those nice, skillful, pleasurable things—to Louis because it is wrong. Okay, it’s not that wrong, but it’s not what Louis wants. He wants Harry to feel comfortable and live in the house, not as a guest or a worker, but as an actual member of the house. He needs to talk to Harry and he will; he just doesn’t know how.

       During the car ride, Louis does not attempt to make conversation with Harry. Any time he has tried in the past couple of days, Harry barely responds and he doesn’t want to make Harry feel pressured to do anything he doesn’t want to do. Part of him is hoping Harry will ask him where they are going, why they are going there, and what he misses about his family, and the other part is hoping that Harry will move as close to Louis as possible, whisper dirty, but sweet things in his ear and—wait.

       Louis pulls over to the shoulder of the freeway and gets out of the car. Harry scrunches his brow in confusion, but remains quiet; Louis is an odd person and Harry is starting to realize that. Louis paces back and forth in the space behind the car, arguing with himself of how stupid he is. What is wrong with him? He cannot be having those thoughts about Harry. He does not fancy guys. He’s just lonely, he has been his whole twenty-three years of life, and his mind is clouded. The wind blows, making it even colder and Louis wraps his arms around himself over his coat. Just because Harry is the one who is doing those things to Louis does not mean that Louis likes him like that.

       When Louis gets back in the car, he reaches over to the back seat and grabs a bottle of water. To be honest, he’d love something stronger, but he’s driving and he can’t put Harry’s life in danger. Shit. He means, he can’t put either of their lives in danger. Louis twists the top off and takes a long sip of water.

       “Everything alright?” Harry asks.

       Something in his green eyes sparkle which makes Louis feel something he could never explain. Shit. Louis gulps down more water, hoping it will give him some type of buzz to make it through the remainder of this trip without doing something he knows he shouldn’t do. He lowers the water bottle from his face to find Harry looking at him expectantly, with pink parted lips and big green eyes and soft curly hair. Shit. He exhales before he says, “I‘m fine.”

       Louis shifts the car back into drive and slowly weaves his way back onto the road. He turns the music up a few notches to help him not completely think of Harry, but this plan fails him. “I like this song,” Harry says. He then starts humming along and Louis nearly collides with the car in front of them by the sound Harry is making. It’s just so pretty.

       The trip to Louis’ parent’s house takes a little longer than usual, but they finally make it. Harry is stunned at the house because it is so big and so beautiful, and he hasn’t even stepped inside yet. Harry momentarily looks away from the house to grab his bag from the backseat, but Louis stops him. “I don’t really want to stay the night and we won’t seem so eager, even though we’re not, if we come in without any luggage.”

       Harry nods before placing the bag back down on the seat and shutting the door. “Who’s house is this?”

       “My parent’s,” he answers simply. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

       “Funny, that’s what some people usually say before we have sex,” Harry says bluntly.

       Louis stops walking and holds his arm out to stop Harry as well. “Let’s not talk about that here, okay?” He is surprised Harry said anything in the first place, but that’s beside the point. His mum may know the whole story, but the rest of his family doesn’t and he wants to keep it that way.

       The two walk into the house and almost immediately, Louis’ lower half is covered with a matching set of blond. Jay peers out of the kitchen after she hears her youngest daughters squeal and sees Louis and Harry standing right next to the front door. “Girls, let Louis go,” Jay orders the twins as she walks towards them.

       They let go and the one closest to Harry asks, “Who are you?”

       “Yeah,” the other chimes in, “who are you?”

       Harry looks down at their curious eyes and thankfully, Jay answers for him. “Girls, this is Harry, Louis’ friend.”

       “He has curly hair,” the first one says.

       “He does,” the second one agrees. “Can we touch it?”

       Jay chuckles. “Why don’t you two run along for now and maybe Harry will let you later? We don’t want to crowd him.”

       The twins make a face, but leave anyway, distracted by something else. Louis watches them as they leave and when they’re out of sight, he turns to Harry. “Sorry about that. They don’t have many boundaries.”

       Harry shrugs and doesn’t say anything. Jay takes note of this as she leads the two boys to the living room. Louis and Harry sit on the couch with a wide space between them while Jay takes the armchair across from them. Once the three of them are sitting, she smiles. “So, you’re Harry.”

       Louis groans. “Mum.”

       For the next couple of hours, every single one of Louis’ immediate family members comes through the living room and catches up with him. They question Harry a little bit and it isn’t until towards the end of the first hour that Harry begins to open up a little. The first time Louis sees Harry smile after Louis and his sister, Lottie get into a silly argument which totally makes Louis’ heart swoon. The smile is so genuine that it gives Louis a surge of hope that everything will eventually be okay.

       After the Tomlinson clan plus Harry have a delicious dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread with chocolate cake for dessert, they retreat back into the living room for tea. Harry and Louis are back on the couch, a little closer than before, but not too close. Louis’ dad had to go make an important phone call involving some business deal, so he is in his home office right now. The older girls are upstairs doing homework and the twins are sitting in front of Harry, telling him one of their many stories. He sits there, listening tentatively, saying ooo and ahh when necessary and laughing when either of the twins says a joke. He seems at ease which makes Louis feel better.

       The twins continue telling their story about what happened in school earlier that day animatedly, making Harry and Louis participate in their narrative. Louis takes a moment to let himself catch up to all that is happening. He didn’t think that Harry would catch his family’s attention like he did; in fact, it seems like his family loves Harry even though they didn’t know who he was six hours ago. He didn’t think Harry would actually talk and actually be a person, but he did and he is.

       Soon, the two youngest of the group are sent to bed. They hug and kiss Harry just like they do to Louis before running up the stairs. Jay keeps the conversation going, never once mentioning Harry’s former occupation. It doesn’t take long for her to see why Louis wanted to help Harry so much—he has a spark in him and Jay is glad Louis saw that spark. The conversation flows nicely and everyone, including Harry, is astounded at how much Harry has to say. He’s always been really quiet and to himself, but there’s just something about being there in that house surrounded by these people that makes him want to change.

       Jay’s secret plan to keep the boys talking into the night works out perfectly because by the time Louis realizes what time it is, it is far too late to make a three hour journey back to the city. He had a feeling this would happen ergo the overnight bags in the car. When Louis goes out to the car to get the bags, Jay takes the opportunity to have a word with Harry.

       “I’m glad that Louis met you. You seem like a good kid,” she tells him honestly.

       Harry wants to smile, but he stops himself. “You know, don’t you?”

       He doesn’t have to elaborate for Jay to know what he’s talking about. She nods. “I do, but that doesn’t matter to me,” she says. “These past few hours here, it’s obvious that you are not really that person. You are someone better, remember that.”

       Harry lets the day replay in his eyes and Jay is right. “Thanks,” he smiles.

       “You are so very welcome.” She kisses his cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?” She smiles once more before leaving the room to go upstairs.

       Louis comes back inside a few seconds after Jay is gone. “Mum went to bed?” he asks and Harry nods. “We should go up, too, then.” Louis turns off the lights as he and Harry go up the stairs to Louis’ old room. It’s pretty much the same as it was when Louis lived here minus the embarrassing posters he had of his favorite musical artists on the walls.

       “Nice room,” Harry comments as he spots a teddy that is placed between two pillows on the bed. It is clear that he is mocking Louis, so Louis glares at him and throws his bag at him.

       They go through their nightly ritual which is basically stripping down and changing into PJ’s and then going to sleep. They don’t have a system, not yet anyways. When they settle into the bed and the lights go off, Harry waits a minute before moving closer to Louis. Louis grabs Harry’s hands before he can do anything. “Not here. My sisters are just next door and just . . . not here.” He drops Harry’s hands, trying to ignore how his fingers are long and slender.

       Louis thought that everything was getting better, that bringing Harry to his family’s house changed his thoughts for why he is with Louis, that Harry would understand that Louis did not buy him for sex. Louis thought all of these things, but his thoughts are wrong considering what Harry is doing over the material of Louis’ boxers.

       This does not help the unexplainable feeling Louis has been having. Shit.

  
  



	9. 09

       “Are you leaving already?”

       Louis’ heart catches when his youngest sister asks him this question. He squats down so he is at eye level with her. “I’m afraid so.”

       She pouts. “Stay longer.”

       “I would if I could, but I can’t. I was supposed to leave last night, but mum tricked me into staying the night,” Louis tells her.

       “Speaking of mum, where is she?” Lottie asks as she walks into the living room from the kitchen with an apple in her hand. “I haven’t seen her at all this morning.”

       Louis looks back at Harry who is sitting on the arm of the couch and looking like he is two seconds away from falling asleep. He turns his head back to Lottie. “I honestly have no idea. I haven’t seen her either.”

       “Strange, innit?” His sister asks.

       He straightens up, patting his sister’s head as he does. “We really need to get going. I have to do a few things for the club and I guess,” Louis pauses. “Tell mum thanks for everything and I’ll see her later.”

       Lottie shrugs. “Whatever.” She takes a bite of her apple. “Drive safe,” she says before walking out of the room with the youngest of the clan.

       The front door opens and a second after it clicks shut, Jay appears in the doorway of the living room. “Oh good, you haven’t left yet.”

       “We were about to,” Louis replies. “Where were you?”

       “That’s irrelevant,” Jay answers. She walks over to Louis. “Now give your mum a hug before you leave her again.”

 

       He goes into his mother’s warm embrace and honestly, nothing else quite feels like home better than his mum’s hugs. “You make it seem like you never see me.”

       She chuckles. “I’m a mother, it’s what I do.” Jay lets her son go and that’s when he notices the gift bag in her hand.

       “What is that?” he asks, pointing to the bag.

       “Oh, this,” Jay holds the bag up. “This is just a little something for you, for you and Harry both, actually.” Harry jerks his head up when he hears his name and he blinks a few times, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes. “I know this is a very unique and new situation and I thought this would help.”

       Louis eyes the bag curiously. “Are you going to give it to me?”

       “Yes, but,” she moves the bag away from him. “You are not allowed to open it until you are in your own house, understood?”

       “Yes, ma’am.”

       “Good.”

       He glances at the grandfather clock in the room and picks up his bag. “We really need to be on our way.” Harry stands up and shoulders his bag.

       Jay sighs. “I guess you do.”

       “Mum.”

       “I know, I know,” she says. Jay leans forward and kisses Louis’ cheek. “Be good.”

       “Always.”

       She then turns her attention to Harry and kisses him on the cheek, too. “Remember what I told you last night. I meant it.”

       Harry nods. “Of course. Thanks for, uh, having us.”

       “Anytime.” She turns her head to Louis. “Anytime,” Jay says again, this time with emphasis. She hands the gift bag to Louis. “Okay, now go before you break my heart.”

       Louis hugs his mother one last time before he and Harry leave the house. When they are in the car and Louis pulls onto the freeway, he says, “Sorry about that. My family is all over the place.”

       “No need to apologize,” Harry responds with complete honesty. “I like your family, they’re nice.”

       For a short second, Louis glances over at Harry. Maybe this trip wasn’t the most horrible idea. Maybe this trip is what has finally broken through Harry’s stubbornness. Maybe this trip was just what everyone needed.

       When they get home, they leave their bags by the door and walk farther into the house. Louis has the gift bag in his hand and he wonders why his mum insisted that he not open it until he got home. He leads Harry into the living room and flicks on the light.

       “Shall we see what this is?”

       “Yeah,” Harry nods. “I’m a bit curious, if I’m honest.”

       Louis pulls out the useless tissue paper to find a rectangle covered in wrapping paper. Mum would do this, he thinks to himself. He rips the paper off and comes to face the back of a picture frame with a bright yellow post-it attached. I just couldn’t help myself, it reads. Louis flips the frame over and it’s definitely not what he expected.

       “Wow,” Harry says quietly. The photo is of the two of them, sitting next to each other on the couch just the night before. They are both smiling and if you asked him when this picture was exactly taken, Harry wouldn’t be able to tell you. He really enjoyed hanging out with Louis’ family and he’s a bit glad that there’s proof of it.

       “Yeah, wow,” Louis agrees. Not just maybe, the trip home was a good thing. “I know exactly where to put this.” He moves over to the back wall where there is a couple dozen photos hanging. Louis pulls off the center picture which is of him and his family and replaces it with the picture of him and Harry.

       “But, that’s your family.” Harry doesn’t understand why Louis just did that.

       “I have a new family now,” Louis replies simply.

Harry looks at him with a bit of amazement—how is Louis so kind in all of this? Is he actually serious? What is that even supposed to mean?

       The older boy notices Harry’s confusion, so he clarifies. “We are a family and that’s just how it is.” He smiles. “Now, you were basically falling asleep the whole ride back, so go ahead and go up to take a nap. I’ll bring you up something to eat later on.”

       Wordlessly, Harry steps out of the living room, but he does take one last look at the picture of the two of them on the wall before leaving. Family, that’s a concept Harry hasn’t considered since his parents passed away. He never got that family feeling from David and he just settled with the fact that he’d be technically alone for the rest of his life. That is, however, before Louis came into his life.

       Before he lays down for a nap, Harry pulls his bag out from under the bed and takes the photo of his parents out. This is his family and it will always be his family and he misses them so much. He places the frame on the nightstand where the surface is empty of clutter. Just like Louis displays his family all over the house, Harry will display his own in the place where he can see it constantly every day.

       Harry wakes up a couple of hours later when he hears the clank of dishes. He opens his eyes and sits up a bit to see Louis standing by the dresser with a cup of tea in his hand and a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry,” Louis apologizes. “Didn’t mean to wake you.” He sits up completely and rubs the sleep out of his eyes, which makes Louis swoon a little at how cute he looks doing so.

       “D’you always drink tea in your room?”

       The cup clanks with the little plate underneath it in Louis’ hands. “N-no,” he stutters. “I was going to bring you food, but I don’t really have any food here, so I thought that tea would hold you over until real food got here.” He walks towards the bed and hands the tea over.

       Harry takes it. “Real food?”

       “Well, take-out, actually. Is there anything in particular that you want? Pizza? Burgers? Subs?” Louis asks.

       He takes a sip of tea as he contemplates his choices. It’s out of the ordinary for anyone to ask Harry what he wants and since he doubts Louis will consider his wants for much longer, Harry decides to take advantage of it. He places the tea back on the plate and balances it on the blanket over his thigh. “Um, Chinese?”

       That suggestion earns Harry a smile. “That sounds delicious.” Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials his main Chinese restaurant. When he asks Harry what he specifically wants, all he says is chicken fried rice so Louis orders a helping that will feed four in addition to the egg rolls and general tso’s chicken and lo mein.

       “That’s a lot of food,” Harry says after Louis hangs up the call.

       “We’re growing men, we need it.”

       He smiles his half-smile, making his dimple slightly show, which in turn makes Louis’ stomach flutter. Louis glances down at the carpeted floor in hopes to make it stomach stop doing that and just chill the fuck out. There is no need for any of that; it’s not like Louis is sort of, kind of liking Harry or anything like that.

       “Well, um,” Louis clears his throat. “If you’re done sleeping, we should go downstairs for when the food gets here.”

       “Right,” Harry agrees as he moves the tea to the bedside table and untangles the sheets from his legs. He takes the cup with him as he follows Louis down the stairs and to the living room.

       “It feels like a movie night,” Louis announces at he faces the shelf with all of his DVDs. He notices something off about the collection, so he takes a closer look towards the center. The Notebook, Notting Hill, No St—wait, these are alphabetized. He turns his head in Harry’s direction who is leaning in the doorframe and sipping his tea. “Did you do this?”

       He takes the last sip of the tea before placing the cup down on the coffee table. “Uh, yeah, a couple days ago. I got bored and needed something to do.” At least, that isn’t a complete lie. He was bored and he did need something to do, but it was because he needed a distraction.

       Without a thought, Louis surges toward Harry, throws his arm around his shoulders and hugs him. Because of their height difference, Louis rests his head on Harry’s shoulder and tightens his grip. “Thank you,” he whispers into fabric of his shirt. The hugging and the thanking came out of nowhere, somewhat, and it takes Louis about five point two seconds to realize what he is doing. He lets go and takes a step back, a bit embarrassed and a bit sad that he had to let go. If Louis is completely honest with himself, he enjoyed how well his body fit against Harry’s, but that’s only if he’s being honest.

       When the Chinese food arrives a little while later, the two boys sit next to each other on the couch with their dinner spread out in front of them. Louis tries his best not to measure the distance between them and just focus on the food. Harry tries his best not to stuff his face like a starved hobo because he hasn’t had Chinese food in over ten years and he forgot how much he loves it.

       Once their stomachs are full, Louis gets up to go refill his drink and when he gets back, he sits closer to Harry. The movie they are watching was picked at random; Louis scrambled to put a movie into the DVD player so he could focus on something else other than the hug he attacked Harry with. He’s trying to assure himself that it was no big deal, that there was no harm by it, that it shouldn’t matter.

       The night goes on and the movie keeps playing and Louis gets sleepy. It feels like forever ago that he and Harry were at his parents’ house with all of his sisters when it was just that morning. It feels like forever ago and Louis doesn’t mind it because a lot can happen in one day, even though in reality, not much actually happened. He stops fighting the heaviness of his eyelids and lets them droop down, murmuring quietly as he sinks himself further into the couch and dangerously close to Harry. He cuddles up to Harry subconsciously—he is practically asleep with not much sense at the moment and the warmth coming off Harry is comforting.

       Harry, on the other hand, just sits there, stiff. Cuddling is not in his job description and it’s just something he’s not used to. You’d almost think he’d get used to the fact that he will continue coming across things he is not used to.

~

       For his current project, the curly-haired boy is tackling the mess of Louis’ closet. Starting on Wednesday, Harry has picked a room every day in the house and started cleaning, because that is really all he can do. Louis leaves him home alone a lot because he is always running errand after errand for his club and part of Harry wonders if it’s really worth it.

Harry picked up where he left off in the living room, moved on to the kitchen—which took about ten minutes considering Louis never uses it—after, attacked the main bathroom upstairs, and now, he’s in the master bedroom. Having a lot of clothes is inevitable for a wealthy person, but really, how many striped shirts can one person own? After much debate, Harry decides to organize the closet by color and is a bit surprised to see the rainbow once he is done. Louis has to be the first person Harry knows that has such a wide variety of colored pants (not that he’s seen Louis wear any of them since they met).

       Cleaning the house gives Harry the excuse to explore. It is really easy to tell which rooms that are never used by the thick blanket of dust that covers the furniture. The den is an example of this, and really, the room is boring. Maybe if people actually came in there and made it look lived in, it wouldn’t look as boring. The house has a total of four bedrooms, yet Louis insists that Harry shares the master bedroom with him, which makes no sense to Harry. He could easily be out of Louis’ space and it could be like he wasn’t even there, but no, Louis won’t have that.

       Sometimes, he wonders if Louis bought him away from David for the simple fact that he was lonely. He lives in this big house all alone. In the week that Harry has been there, there has been not one visitor and it almost seems like Louis is either working at the club, reading a book, or watching a movie; he doesn’t seem to have much of a social life. But then again, he has a friend, Zayn, well, maybe ex-friend since he was beyond angry. Maybe Louis did have a social life, but then he bought Harry and all of his friends ditched him.

       Harry clears the thought from his head—Louis has friends; they just don’t come here.

       All this thinking makes Harry want to kick himself in the ass. He doesn’t think, he just does what he has to do. One week in this place and his whole way of life is different and as glad as Harry is that he doesn’t have to touch creepy, old men anymore, he is not happy that his thoughts are consuming him. He doesn’t like dawning on the facts of how his life has been for the past decade. He doesn’t like contemplating what his life would have turned out if his parents never died. He doesn’t like envisioning a bright future that he knows he will never have. He doesn’t like having the free time to think, so he cleans and places all his focus on sweeping or dusting or organizing.

       When Louis goes to the bedroom to slowly get ready for work that night, he finds Harry standing in front of the closet and admiring his work. He notices the cleanliness of the room right away and a “wow” slips from his lips. Harry turns around at the sound of Louis’ voice. “You like, rock at cleaning, did you know that?” Louis asks, amazed.

       Harry shrugs.

       “But seriously, you really don’t have to clean all day. Actually, you don’t have to clean at all,” Louis says.

       He shrugs again. “Just needed something to do.”

       Then it dawns on Louis—Harry truly has nothing to do while here. When Louis is out and about, Harry is just sitting bored in the house. This makes Louis face palm because he doesn’t want Harry to feel like a prisoner in the house, so he makes a suggestion. “D’you want to come to the club with me tonight? Get out of the house and whatnot? Maybe meet some people?”

       Going to The Red Wave is a plan, but not the one Harry has been thinking of all day. He has this crazy idea and he’s been debating with himself whether or not he should bring it up with Louis. “I, actually, I was wondering,” he starts, but doesn’t finish. “Never mind,” he shakes his head. “It’s stupid.”

       “No, what?” Louis encourages. Is Harry finally opening up to him?

       Harry places his hands in his front pockets on his pants. Just ask him, he yells at himself. “Canwegogroceryshopping?” he asks really fast that all the words mesh together.

       Louis raises his brow. “Grocery shopping?”

       He nods.

       “Hmm . . .” Louis glances at the time at calculates that he has a couple hours before he really needs to go anywhere. “Yes, of course. Let’s go.” He pats his pockets until he finds his keys.

       “Oh.” Harry’s eyes widen when he comprehends what’s happening. Louis actually said yes. As much as Harry enjoys not having dishes to do by eating take-out all the time, he is tired of it. And plus, he’s always wanted to try some new recipes and see if he can get it. Harry enjoys cooking; he came to that realization last year when he experimented with the little of whatever David had in the house.

       At the food market, Louis gives Harry complete control of the cart and tells him to get whatever he wants. He knows there’s like zero food in the house and he should have realized sooner that he should get some actual food. As Harry pushes the cart from aisle to aisle, placing ingredients in the cart, Louis wraps his arm around Harry’s waist and leans into his side. After the initial hug, Louis is randomly hugging Harry or linking their arms together or cuddling against him—his only answer to this is because it feels nice to have someone around. Harry doesn’t do anything to return the motion; he just continues shopping, ignoring the fact that there’s a Louis at his side.

       The following Saturday, after Louis dresses in his default black button-up and black trousers for work, he leaves the bedroom where Harry is. He is halfway down the stairs when his phone rings. The call is from a blocked number, but he picks up anyway. “Hello?” No one answers, but he hears a familiar voice mumbling. Louis walks back up the stairs and goes back to the bedroom. “Did you just block call me?” Louis asks Harry.

       “What? No,” Harry responds without looking up from his phone. He is furiously tapping the screen, trying to make it work properly.

       This makes Louis chuckle. “Oh dear, you’re technology impaired.”

       Harry pouts. “Am not.”

       Louis mentally thinks of where the nearest cliff is so he can fling himself off of it because sometimes Harry is just too adorable to handle. He smiles so big at the sight of Harry that his cheeks begin to hurt.

       “Stop that, the phone’s just stupid,” Harry defends himself.

       “Sure it is,” Louis says with a hint of sarcasm. He steps closer to Harry and chuckles. “You are too adorable,” he says before he can stop himself.

       The air gets a bit thick after that, but thankfully, Harry breaks it. “And you’re gonna be late for work.” He says this just to break that look Louis has been giving him because it’s starting to get uncomfortable.

       “Shit,” Louis mutters. He pockets his phone and says, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.” He smiles once more and surprisingly, Harry smiles back. On impulse, Louis leans forward and kisses Harry and damn, his lips are soft. “Um,” Louis blushes. “I’ll, uh, see you later.” And with that, he leaves the room and a moment later, he leaves the house all with a slight tingly feeling on his lips.

  
  



	10. 10

       When someone has a crush, he or she becomes overly kind, not saying that he or she isn’t kind in the first place, but just more than usual. This kindness can be anything from holding a door open to laughing at not-so-funny jokes. This kindness will creep into affection, starting with little hugs and linking arms, maybe a little hand holding. Crushes don’t stay secret for long because everyone makes the mistake of staring and smiling; it’s not their fault, they can’t help it that they feel this way.

       And if the crusher and the crushee happen to live together and are basically playing house, it doesn’t help either.

       Since the two went grocery shopping, Harry has been cooking quite a lot. While he cleaned the kitchen a few days prior to the trip, he found a cookbook in the bottom drawer and now he’s picking recipes from it and going for it. The whole time Louis has lived in that house, he has barely ever used to kitchen, so everything is practically new which makes Harry joyful. This kitchen is state of the art and it is perfect for Harry and his cooking adventures.

       The first day Louis came home to find something smelling rather nice, he felt happy to see that Harry actually looked happy and in place in this house. Harry is always proud, but nervous of his food and is very apprehensive when he hands Louis a plate and asks for his opinion. Louis never has anything bad to say because Harry truly has talent in the kitchen.

       The routine of Louis coming home from running errands for the club or going to the bookstore for him or getting an oil change for his car and finding a delicious meal waiting for him is something he can get used to. This makes Louis’ little signs of affection for Harry escalate somewhat; he’ll give Harry a small peck on the cheek or forehead, and sometimes lips when he is either coming back or leaving in addition to the hugs and cuddles. Louis can’t help himself because Harry is there and he wants to show him that he is loved.

       However, this affection is never returned. Harry always freezes to Louis’ touch and never enjoys anything he does. The only time Harry ever does anything is when he pleasures Louis is many different ways which has become an almost nightly thing. Louis has yet to say anything because he is falling for Harry and it feels nice to have someone there, someone he can be physically close to. And if only his actions would translate the emotional stuff, too.

       The older boy did not want to face his feelings because to put it plainly, he’s been in denial his whole life of his sexuality. Harry coming into his world has changed that, though, and it’s really for the better because it’s made Louis want to be who he actually is. He can’t place what it is exactly that makes him feel this way towards Harry, but he just does; it’s like there are invisible strings that are pulling him towards the curly-haired boy. It took that careless kiss to force Louis into admitting his feelings to himself and he’s just rolling with it.

       Whatever the reason is, it doesn’t matter to Louis. All that matters is that he has Harry and they live together in this house where they are a family.

~

       Louis is sitting on the living room couch and is reading the same book he has been reading for over a month now. He is determined to finish the book soon because it is just outright ridiculous of how long it is taking him. Yes, he’s had a lot to do with work and with Harry, but those things shouldn’t have taken that much of his reading time away from him.

       The floor creaks, which makes Louis look up from his book. Standing in the doorway is no one other than Harry because, really, who else would it be? Louis wonders if Harry wants him to try some food that he has cooked and tell him what he thinks because Harry’s been doing that a lot since he found that cookbook last week.

       He takes in the sight of Harry and he doesn’t understand how Harry can make a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans look so good. Like, so good that Louis just wants to stare at him. “Y’know you can sit down, right?” Louis probes after a minute of creepy staring.

       Silently, Harry crosses the room and sits down next to Louis. He places his hands in his lap and even though it’s only been a few weeks, Louis can tell there is something on Harry’s mind. Maybe it’s because they have been living together in close quarters or maybe it’s because Louis has a slight crush on Harry. Maybe it’s the latter.

       “What is it?” Louis asks as he marks his place in the book and puts it on the other side of him. “What’s on your mind?”

       Harry twiddles his thumbs and remains silent. He can feel Louis looking at him, but he doesn’t meet his stare. He feels silly that he can’t ask a simple question because it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. He’s just being silly, that’s all.

       Because of his silence, Louis begins asking a series of questions. “Did you make something?” Harry shakes his head. “Did you break something?” He shakes his head. “Do you need more food stuff?” Another shake. “Do you want to watch the telly?” Shaking of the head. “Are you going to tell me then?” Louis squints his eyes and furrows his brow.

       “I,” he sighs. Harry opens his mouth, but he’s having trouble making words come out. He’s not nervous or scared; he’s just being stupid. “Is it okay if I um . . . go out?”

       Suddenly, Louis feels like shit. Part of him wants Harry to go out, have a life, make friends and all that, but the other part just wants to keep him in the house all to himself. “I have to go the club in about an hour if you want to tag along.”

       “N-no,” Harry says. “I mean, can I go out,” he pauses. “Alone?”

       “Oh.” Louis’ blue eyes widen in realization. Of course he wants to go out on his own; Louis is stupid to think otherwise. “Um, yeah,” he answers with a weak voice. He clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah, of course you can.” Louis shrugs to make it seem like it is whatever. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

       Harry half-smiles. “I just thought I should.”

       “Right, but um . . . there’s no need. You don’t need my permission. You’re pretty much a free bird and if you wanna fly, then go ahead and fly and Christ, what am I even saying?” Louis takes a breath and stops rambling. “To answer your question, yes.”

       “Well, then, I should like, put on some shoes,” Harry says before standing up. He is about to leave, but Louis stops him.

       Louis stands up. “I have something for you that you’re gonna need.” He walks past Harry and down the little hall until he is at the little table by the front door. Instead of the one set of keys in the dish on the table, there are two. Louis plucks out the brand new set and takes them to Harry. “Here, so you can get in and stuff.”

       Harry takes the keys. “Thanks.” He pockets them before leaving the room to go put on his infamous shoes that he wears everywhere. Within five minutes, he is out the door with his phone in one pocket and the keys in the other.

       An hour and a half later when Louis is at the Red Wave and is setting up for the night, he has an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. He is wary of Harry being out, but he has nothing to be worried about, right? Harry is a grown person and surely he knows how to take care of himself. And besides, if he needed help, all he’d have to do is call Louis. Harry probably has an old friend that he hasn’t seen in forever that he’s meeting up with after contacting him. Yeah, that’s probably it.

       In the middle of placing new candles on all the tables and lighting them, Louis comes face-to-face with Zayn. They have been working around each other for the past two weeks without a single word exchanged between them. Louis knows Zayn is still pissed at him and he doesn’t see a point in trying to fix things with him when he’s obviously being a douche.

       Louis walks around Zayn and places another candle down. When he brings the lighter to the wick, Zayn opens his mouth. “What, you’re not gonna talk to me?”

       He looks up at Zayn and fake gasps. “Oh my, is Zayn really speaking to me?” A combination of sarcasm and ice are in Louis’ words.

       “Well, sorry for trying to be a good friend.”

       Louis scoffs. “You are a lot of things and a good friend isn’t one of them.”

       Zayn rolls his eyes. “You’re just bitter.”

       “Bitter?” Louis repeats. “Bitter about what?”

       “You probably caught a mix of diseases after fucking that whore.” Zayn crosses his arms over his chest. “Tell me Lou, how is it to be touched by a filthy, disgusting, whore?”

       Louis nearly drops the bag of candles in his hand. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he defends. “You don’t know one fucking thing.”

       “Right,” Zayn fires back. “What I know if that you’re throwing your life away over nobody and the only person getting hurt is you.”

       “Louis!” Ed calls from the bar.

       “What?” he snaps.

       Ed flinches. “Never mind.”

       Louis sighs before he takes his candles and his lighter and walks over to the bar, leaving the negativity of Zayn. He drops the bag on the counter. “Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “What did you need?”

       “Oh, nothing,” he shrugs. “Arguing before the doors open just sets off a bad vibe and plus, Zayn’s being an arse. Don’t listen to him.”

       “Thanks, mate.” Louis smiles at the ginger.

~

       Five blocks from the Red Wave, Harry is pacing back and forth on the sidewalk across the street from his destination. He came there because he just had to; it’s been way too long out of routine and he’s been itching to get back to something familiar. He doesn’t even know if he can get in considering he is alone and doesn’t have a valid I.D. This plan is probably faulty, but Harry had to get out on his own. It’s not that Harry hates living with Louis or anything like that, but he only ever goes out with Louis.

       Walk down to the end of the street. Turn around. Walk down to the end of the street. Turn around. And repeat.

       Everything right now is still weird for Harry. His environment has changed so quickly that he can’t wrap his head around it. He is not used to someone like Louis who is kind and caring and clearly loving because who in their right mind would act this way towards Harry? He’s a nobody where he gets fucked over every day and every night.

       Turn. Walk. Turn. Walk.

       Doubting his decision, Harry turns the corner towards Louis’ house instead of turning around. Changing his mind again halfway down the block, he turns around and walks back. Why is he being so apprehensive? What is he waiting for? Sure, it’s still early, but there’s always someone. What is Harry even doing?

       When he gets to the end of street this time, Harry doesn’t turn; instead, he waits for the road to clear of cars before he crosses over. There isn’t a line at the door, which is expected since it’s still early, so Harry goes right up the bouncer. What the hell, right?

       Unexpectedly, the bouncer recognizes Harry. “You’re usually with David, aren’t you?”

       “Yeah,” Harry replies.

       “Where is he? Haven’t seen him in a while,” the bouncer asks.

       “He’s been around,” Harry shrugs. “I don’t really know.”

       The bouncer nods. “He’s an odd one, ain’t he?”

       These questions are making Harry feel like he’s being interrogated. He almost retreats from the door and walks away. He’ll just pretend he never even left the house and he’ll just go back and cook, no, he’ll bake. Yeah, sugar is probably what Harry needs.

       “Kid, you going in or what?”

       Harry snaps out of his thoughts and nods. The bouncer unhooks the velvet rope and Harry steps through, immediately getting hit with loud music and colorful lights. He slowly makes his way through the room, not making eye contact with anyone. When he gets to the other side of the room, Harry pauses and closes his eyes, letting himself fall back into the person he’s been for years, the person he’ll always be. This is his life. This is what he does.

       With a deep breath, Harry opens his eyes only to find a guy staring at him from a few meters away. The guy nods toward the restroom and Harry returns the gesture by nodding himself. That’s all what the guy needed to leave the dance floor and walk the short distance. Harry waits a minute before he follows.

       He finds the guy standing in front of the stall designated for those who are handicapped. Harry decides that the guy isn’t all that bad looking, not that it matters. The sandy-blond hair with brown eyes and high cheekbones works nicely.

       The guy smiles. “This is gonna cost me, innit?”

       Harry nods.

       “How much?”

       He thinks about it for a moment. Usually David always handled the money and the client always gave the bills to him and then Harry performed. He’s heard many conversations before that dealt with the pricing, but he never once paid attention because it’s not like he was directly getting paid for the task. “Um, £200.”

       “Hmm . . .” The guy plucks his wallet out of his back pocket and pulls two bills out, handing them to Harry. Harry has never met anyone who walks around, carrying hundreds, but he doesn’t question it; he just shoves the bills in his front pocket. “Let’s do this then, shall we?” The guy opens the stall door and gestures for Harry to go in the stall.

       Once the door is closed and locked, Harry asks, “What d’you have in mind?”

       “Drop your trousers.” The guy has no hesitation whatsoever. He obviously knows what he wants, so Harry does what he says. He did pay him already and this is how it goes. Harry’s used to it because this is what his life it. The guy turns Harry around so he is facing the stall door and comes up right behind him. “This is going to be fun,” he whispers into Harry’s ear.

       Harry doesn’t say anything in return. He turns off his thoughts like he always does and lets this stranger have his way with him.

       When the task is done and Harry is buckling his belt back into place, the guy smiles at him. “You are definitely worth more than £200,” and with that, he unlocks the stall door and leaves to go back to the dance floor.

       The curly-haired boy saunters over to the sinks and washes his hands. He feels weird, but it’s not completely a bad weird. He’s been on an extended break and he just needs to get back to routine again; however, there is no rush so he makes the decision to go back to Louis’ house and call it a night.

       Harry takes his time walking back. He has enough money to catch a cab, but he knows it’s best to save that money because he’s sure that Louis won’t be keeping him forever and there’s no way he’ll go back to David. When that day comes, Harry needs to be able to support himself and this is the only way. Besides, the cool London air feels nice on his pale skin because it reminds him that he’s actually there.

~

       While in the middle of pouring a drink, Ed feels his side of the bar buzz. He figures it’s his phone, but when he looks at it, there’s no sign that someone is calling him. Ed places the martini glass in front of a lady who winks at him as she passes him the money to pay for her drink. He takes the bill and tries not to cringe; women in their thirties are not his type. The buzz stops for a short moment before starting up again. Ed is about to flip his shit, thinking he’s gone mad, but then he sees it.

       Ed walks to the other side of the bar and hands Louis the culprit of the buzzing. “This is yours,” he says before turning back to tend his side.

       Since Louis is not busy at the moment, he escapes to the soundproof room behind the bar and picks up the call from a blocked number. “Hello?”

       “Um, Louis?” the familiar voice responds.

       “Harry? Is everything alright? Do you need me to get you? Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you,” Louis says without giving Harry a chance to answer any of the questions.

       “No, no, I’m fine,” Harry shouts over the constant, loud beeping that’s going on.

       “Then what’s tha—” he cuts himself off. “Shit, the alarm.” Louis facepalms. “I forgot to give you the code, didn’t I?”

       “Yeah.”

       “Sorry about that, it’s four-three-eight-two-nine.”

       Harry puts in the code and finally, it is quiet. “Thank you.”

       “I really should have given you the code. I’m really sorry,” Louis apologizes.

       “It’s fine, really,” Harry assures him. It’s just an alarm code, no big deal. There’s no need for Louis to beat himself up about it.

       Louis sighs. He’s been trying to make Harry see that the house they live in is both of their homes and he forgets to give Harry complete access to the house. “Well, I better get back to work. I’ll be home in a couple of hours.”

       “Okay,” is all Harry says before hanging up.

       Harry goes upstairs and takes a shower, letting the day’s events wash off of him so he can forget about it. He pulls a clean t-shirt over his head and decides to just go to sleep. It’s pretty late and Louis won’t be back for a while, and it’s not like he has anything to do, so Harry heads to bed.

       Louis returns home at half past three in the morning. He kicks off his shoes by the door and drops his keys in the bowl. Seeing Harry’s set in the bowl already makes a small smile appear on his lips. He locks the door and turns the alarm on before heading up the stairs. He wonders where Harry went that night and what he did. Did Harry have a good time? Does he have a friend that he’ll be able to hang out with more often? Or, maybe he went to see his grandparents or even his parents. Then it dawns on Louis, what happened to Harry’s parents?

       When he gets to the room, Louis can make out Harry’s body on the bed and the snores coming from the younger boy’s body answers the question if Harry is conscious or not. Quietly, Louis grabs his sleeping clothes from his drawer and changes quickly. When he goes to throw his work clothes in the hamper, he notices Harry’s clothes from the day in there, but that’s nothing questionable. The two bills each of £100 that are peeking out of his pocket is what’s questionable.

       Where did this money come from? How did Harry get it? Harry’s not prostituting again, is he? He can’t be, right? He wouldn’t. Louis bought him out of that life and it’s been a few weeks, so Harry should be past all of that, right?

       Louis glances away from the hamper and to Harry with confusion. He thought Harry was past it. He needs Harry to be past it.


	11. 11

       It’s early when Louis wakes up the next morning. It’s cold and he can’t lay down any longer, so Louis gets up, pulls on a pair of sweatpants and goes downstairs. He makes himself a cup of tea and sits at the table, trying his best not to think, but it’s hard not to.

       The money he found in Harry’s pocket has been circling around his head all night and he can’t help but ponder on where Harry got it from. Louis wants to believe that Harry already had the money or that he truly did go visit his grandparents yesterday and they gave it to him. He wants to believe it, but he can’t because he knows it’s not true and that makes his heart hurt.

       A few hours later, Harry comes into the kitchen and takes a seat across from Louis. “Morning,” he says as he rubs the sleep out of his eye.

       Louis doesn’t say anything is return. He looks at Harry and it doesn’t make sense to him how someone like Harry is stuck in such a circumstance. He thought by getting Harry out it would solve everything, but he was wrong. Not much is solved; in fact, it seems there are more problems now.

       Harry moves his hands away from his eyes and sets them on the table. “You alright?”

       He ignores the question and asks one of his own. “What happened to your parents?” His voice is dry and rough from not talking since last night.

       “Oh, um . . .” Harry is taken aback from the question. He blinks a few times and clears his throat. “They died in a car accident when I was, uh, seven.”

       “I’m sorry.”

       The other boy shrugs. “It happened a long time ago.”

       Louis pushes the cup of untouched tea away from him just to do something. The two sit in silence for a while—Harry thinking about his parents and Louis thinking about his next question. After a few minutes, Louis asks, “Did you have fun last night?”

       He shrugs again. “ ‘s not something I consider fun.”

       “Oh, what’d you do?” Louis bites his tongue after asking this third question. He doesn’t want to pry or make Harry feel under attack.

       Harry freezes. He doesn’t want to tell Louis the truth, but he doesn’t want to lie, either. Harry is pretty much an honest lad and lying just doesn’t fit well with him, so he does what he does best: he stays silent.

       “Never mind,” Louis says quickly. “I don’t even know why I asked.” But he does. Louis swallows his mouth dry before getting up and walking out of the kitchen. It was probably just a one-time thing, he tells himself as he goes upstairs to shower.

       The other boy sits there for a little bit after Louis leaves. He could tell that there is something on the older boy’s mind and it is clearly bothering him, but Harry stops thinking about it. It’s not something that he should care about and it doesn’t really matter. He reaches over the table and picks up the tea Louis left behind and takes a sip. Harry ends up spitting it back into the cup because the tea has gone terribly cold. He takes the cup to the sink before he gathers materials and ingredients to make himself some breakfast.

       That night when Louis is wearing one of his many black button-up shirts and is about to step out the front door, he notices Harry is on his way out, too. “D’you need a ride?” he asks. “I have some time to drop you off before I have to head to the club.”

       Harry shakes it head. “It’s alright.”

       Louis throws his keys up in the air and catches them easily. “It’s really no problem. There’s no point in wasting money on a cab when I can drive you.”

       “No, really. It’s okay,” Harry insists. “You don’t have to.” He takes three steps closer to the door.

       “Are you sure?”

       “Yes,” he replies as he takes the remaining two steps between him and the door. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he mumbles as he opens the door and leaves.

       “But I do,” Louis says particularly to no one. As much as he wants to follow Harry and see where he goes, he gives him a few minutes before Louis leaves the house and goes to work.

       About two hours later when the Red Wave is full blown, Louis is utterly distracted by the haunting thought of what Harry is actually doing at that very moment. What if he went back to David? Or worse, what if he’s doing it on his own? What if he gets caught and arrested? What if he gets hurt or kidnapped or something? What if he leaves and never comes back? What if he—

       “Louis?” A hand waves in front of his face. “Hey, Louis? Hello?”

       He turns to his left to be met with a head a red hair. “Sorry?”

       Ed chuckles slightly. “You alright, mate? You’ve been out of it for a while now. Am I gonna have to take over this entire bar while you get your head out of your arse? I know I’m one sexy mother fucker and these good people will want drinks from me, but this bar is quite large.”

       Louis sighs. “I’m fine. I just . . . I have a lot on my mind, I guess.”

       “Yeah, mate, I can see that. You should take a break or something. I can hold off while you’re gone,” Ed offers.

       He nods. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna take you up on that.” Louis pats Ed’s shoulder as he walks past him.

       “Are you sure you’re alright?”

       “Not entirely.” He half-smiles. “I’ll be back in about an hour’s time. I just need to run home right quick.

       Ed shrugs. “Do what you have to do on this fine Saturday night, mate.”

       As Louis leaves through the main door of his club, the bouncer throws his a weird look, but Louis ignores it. He heads to his car and takes off with the windows down; some air will do him good.

~

       Harry waits in a line to get into a club much like the one he was in the night before. The bouncer lets him in once he gets to the front of the line and the first thing Harry notices is how packed the club is. The air is thick with sweat, which makes Harry feel clammy almost automatically. He zigzags through the crowd of people until he reaches the bar. It takes a few minutes before the bartender acknowledges him and asks him what he wants for his drink. Harry asks for a simple glass of water which lands him a strange look from the bartender, but he gets it for him anyway.

       After Harry takes a sip of the water, he feels a pair of eyes on him. He looks around a bit before he locates the source, and then he shoots him a smile. The stranger smiles back and Harry already knows there’s a deal in process. This is far too easy, he thinks to himself. He keeps an eye on the stranger as he walks around the bar and comes to stand next to Harry.

       “Lovely night, innit?” the stranger asks.

       “Outside, yes. In here, not really.” Harry takes another sip of his water.

       The stranger cocks a smile. “Then what brings you here?”

       “Business.” He smirks back at him.

       “Is that so?”

       He nods.

       “Hmm. . .” The stranger completely understands just from that one word. “Since you don’t fancy this place, shall we take this elsewhere?” he asks, eyeing Harry.

       Harry gulps down the rest of his water like it is liquid courage and slams the glass down on the bar. Performing the task outside of bars or clubs or such didn’t go on too long because of Louis, but Harry is willing, so he agrees.

       When they are outside, the stranger leads Harry across the street and down four blocks before they reach his flat. When they are inside, the stranger wastes no time in trying to kiss Harry, but Harry stops him.

       “Sorry mate, that’s not part of the deal,” Harry says in a way that doesn’t make the stranger feel stupid.

       “Right,” he says. “H-how much?”

       “£200 for the hour.”

       “Right,” he says again. He gestures for Harry to follow him into the bedroom where the stranger disappears behind the closet door. Harry doesn’t follow him there because he figures that’s where he stashes his money and Harry doesn’t want to intrude on that. The stranger emerges and hands Harry a small wad of bills that are all twenties. “That should cover it.”

       Harry quickly counts the money before pocketing it. “What do you have in mind?” he asks.

       A grin appears on the stranger’s face. He closes the space and whispers his plan into Harry’s ear earning him a shiver. Harry has no choice but to oblige since he is already paid for, so he loses his clothes and lets the stranger have his way with him. He closes his green eyes and turns his thoughts off, and just pretends he is not doing what he is doing.

       When the task is complete and Harry is leaving the stranger’s flat, that weird feeling from the night before returns. He wants to ignore it, but he can’t because he doesn’t understand why that feeling exists in the first place. He has done this so many times before that he shouldn’t be feeling this way; in fact, he shouldn’t be feeling anything.

       The walk back to the club is short, but instead of going in, Harry keeps walking. He doesn’t have it in him to find another client which is ridiculous considering there have been nights when David had multiple people lined up. It’s not that he won’t be able to find anyone else, he just isn’t in the mood anymore. Harry shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. What is wrong with him? He’s already out and he’s already done it, so why is he being like this?

       A bit more than half an hour and not quite an entire hour later, Harry has his hands in his pockets and is turning into the neighborhood he has yet to call home. This place is just somewhere that Harry is staying at currently. It is not permanent and it’s only a matter of time before he has to take the little he calls his own and relocates.

       Without looking, Harry walks off the sidewalk and onto the pavement to get to the other side of the street. As he is crossing, he freezes when a car screeches it’s tires and breaks hard. The car is a mere two inches away from Harry and he is stunned to do anything because his life literally just flashed through his eyes. He can’t see who the driver is because the headlights are shining right in his face, but he recognizes the voice that flows out of the window.

       “Harry? Christ, what are you doing in the middle of the road at night?” Louis asks frantically.

       He is still frozen and his eyes are wide.

       Louis turns the headlights off which makes Harry blink a few times before finally moving. “Harry? Harry, are you alright?” Louis is debating on whether or not he should get out of the car.

       He doesn’t say anything; he just stares at Louis through the windshield. What just happened?

       The older boy sighs. “Get in,” Louis orders and Harry slowly walks over to the passenger side and slides in. Louis turns the headlights back on. “You need to be more careful.”

       Harry nods. “Yeah.”

       The drive to the house takes no time and what neither of them knows is that this will not be the only ride they share after one of Harry’s outings.

~

       For the next week, any time Harry goes out, Louis doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t ask where Harry is going and when he’ll be back, but he wants to. He tries not to wonder if Harry is selling himself for sex and if there’s more money that he doesn’t know about, but he does. He wants to stop thinking about it and concentrate on something else, but he can’t.

       So he does something he wishes he didn’t have to do: he turns the GPS on, on Harry’s mobile.

       The first time Louis goes in search for Harry, he finds him right as he is walking out a shady motel room. Harry is shocked to see Louis standing before him and he mentally prepares himself for the thunder that will come, but it never comes. Louis doesn’t yell at him, but he acknowledges the fact that he knows what Harry has been doing and they drive back to the house with a few words.

       The next time, Louis catches Harry right before anything happens. Harry is seconds away from going inside a stranger’s flat, but he stops when he hears a loud Oi.

       The stranger does not look impressed when he sees Louis come up to them. He takes in Louis’ appearance—the rolled up red chinos and the striped shirt—and laughs. “Who the hell are you?”

       Louis rolls his eyes. “That’s irrelevant.” He grabs Harry’s arm and tries to take him away, but the stranger takes hold on Harry’s other arm. “Oi, let go!”

       “No,” the stranger responds. “I gathered this one here for a fuck and that’s what I’m gonna get.” He tries to pull Harry into his flat, but Louis’ pull on Harry is stronger.

       “How about you get squat and we all move on with our day?” Louis proposes as he yanks Harry away from the stranger and moves him out of his reach.

       The stranger gets pissed. “How about you move out of my way before your face matches your trousers?”

       “Are you fucking serious? That’s the best you got?” Louis scoffs. He grabs Harry’s hand, gently and says, “C’mon, let’s go.”

       The strangers steps into Louis’ path. “You can go, but he’s staying.”

       Louis reaches into his pocket and takes out his wallet. He pulls out some bills, not paying attention to how much and shoves it at the stranger. “Take this and fuck someone else. This one is mine.” And with that, he finally leaves with Harry.

       This is just an example of what Louis has to do to get Harry out of the deals he has made. Because of this, Louis begins to carry more cash on him every time he goes out to find Harry because he never knows when he will need it. He is doing this because whether Louis has realized it or not, he definitely loves Harry and all he wants is for him to be happy.

       However, Harry is oblivious to this and continues going out and finding clients because he can’t see himself doing anything different. This is normal for Harry. This is his life. This is just how it goes. This is all he knows.

       Before he goes out, Harry makes sure to please Louis more than usual. He works his hands and his lips in a way that leaves Louis in bliss. This starts to make Louis more affectionate towards the other boy and the kisses, hugs, and cuddles multiply quickly. Louis really cares for Harry and he wants him to see it, he wants him to feel it. He wants Harry to know that he doesn’t have to live his life like this, but Louis always catches the look Harry has before he goes. That look gives him away and Louis doesn’t hesitate to grab his mobile and track Harry’s phone.

       The next two weeks of finding Harry, Louis tries something new. During every car ride back to the house, Louis takes an effort into telling Harry the truth.

       “Harry, you know that I’m always here for you no matter what, right? I’m not joking or lying. I’m always here and you should know that,” Louis tells him.

       He doesn’t say anything in return. He hasn’t had someone to lean on in such a long time that he lets the statement go over his head. Sure, Louis may be there for him, but it doesn’t matter to Harry.

       Louis takes the silence, but once they are inside of their house, he kisses Harry. “I love you,” he says with complete honesty as his blue eyes stare into his green ones. He gets more silence, but he expected that. He knows it will take Harry time to see and understand how much Louis loves him.

       This cycle goes on for the next month. On the nights when Louis is not working at the bar, he makes it in time to stop Harry from doing anything; however, on the nights when he is working, he tends to be too late and knows Harry’s already done the deed. Regardless of Louis’ work schedule, he never fails to tell Harry he loves him.

       It doesn’t take Louis long to realize that he’s been cutting out of work early a lot to go find Harry and he feels bad about leaving Ed to tend the bar alone. Louis decides to hire a new employee because this whole thing is taking up more time than he thought it would. He calls up an old friend and asks him to come down to the club.

       “Mate, why are my services needed at two o’clock in the afternoon?”

       Louis glances up. “Eric, thanks for coming.” He smiles at his friend. “And your services may not be needed at the moment, but they will be at night.”

       “What in the hell are you talking about?” Eric asks, genuinely confused.

       “You have a bartending license, don’t you?”

       Eric nods. “Yeah, never had much use for it though,” he admits.

       “Well,” Louis smiles again. “You do now. What do you say to being the Red Wave’s newest bartender?”

       “Um . . .” Eric tilts his head to the side. “Shit, don’t tell me you fired Ed. He was a good mate.”

       “No, no,” Louis shakes his head. “I didn’t fire him. He has good job security. I just need someone to take my place for a while.”

       “A while,” Eric repeats. “Why, you going somewhere?”

       He shakes his head again. “No. There’s just something that keeps coming up that I have to deal with.”

       Eric nods. “And that’s all the explanation I need. You, my friend, have convinced me with absolutely no argument. Of course I will bloody hell work for you!”

       “Well, then bloody hell thank you!”

       While Louis is out on the same mission he’s been on for weeks and weeks now and Eric takes his place at the bar, Zayn notices and does not like it. It’s not that he doesn’t like Eric, but he doesn’t like the reason for why he is there. Zayn knows what Louis is doing and he can’t believe that he is wasting his time on Harry. It is obvious that Harry is a hopeless case and Zayn can’t wait for Louis to finally realize that.

       Another month goes by and Louis is getting closer to giving up, to letting Harry just do this, to leaving it all. It is straining him on how often he has to jump in his car and drive around until he finds the curly-haired boy. It is not an easy process and it is extremely time consuming. There are times when Louis has a debate with himself about giving up and letting Harry go. But, no matter how many times this debate comes up in his head, Louis won’t give up because he loves Harry too much and he has hope. He hates that Harry feels like he has to go back to his old ways and he hates that he can’t make Harry stop.

       The second month of this feels long, but all of the days somehow mesh together. Louis can’t tell you which day happened in what order. Hell, he can’t even tell you the last time he worked a proper shift at the Red Wave. That hope Louis has is there, but it is slightly faded from all the wear and tear of the damage Harry is causing.

       It is late, like really late and Louis lets out a yawn as he parks his car. He gets out of the car and slowly walks up the stairs of the crappy motel. He is partially glad that this motel has outdoor hallways because it means he doesn’t have to deal with the staff. Louis reaches the correct room and instead of the usual banging he does, he decides to knock.

       However, the moment his fist collides with the wood, the door swings open to reveal the very thing that can break someone’s heart.

       Sprawled out on the bed is Harry, completely naked with a gross, older-looking man above him. The image burns at Louis’ eyes and he can’t believe what he is seeing. Without a word, he turns around and walks away, not being able to form anything to say. Louis has never caught Harry in the act before and he hoped he never would because he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

       Harry stares at the empty doorway and he feels something he’s never felt before. Guilt.

  
  



	12. 12

       Louis sits in his car with his hands on the steering wheel and his eyes are staring straight ahead. He doesn’t know how he managed to get back to his car, but he did and now he’s unsure if he’ll actually be able to drive. Why is he there in the first place? Oh, right, Harry. Harry. The image of Harry on that bed with that man in that room flashes in Louis’ eyes which makes him squeeze his eyes shut.

       The passenger side door opens and the car shifts a little when the seat is being sat upon. As soon as Louis hears the door shut, he starts the car, shifts into drive, and takes off. Not once throughout the entire ride home does Louis glance over at Harry because if he does, that image will just pop into his mind and he really doesn’t want that. The ride is silent as well, considering Louis is not assuring Harry how much he’s there for him like he always does; it just doesn’t feel right that night.

       When the car is parked in the driveway, Louis doesn’t wait for Harry; he just goes straight to the door, entering the house. Harry catches up to him, but then loses the proximity when he goes to close the door and turn the alarm on. Upstairs in the master bedroom, Harry finds Louis rummaging through his drawers. Harry pulls his jumper over his head and sets it on top of the bed. Part of him is waiting for Louis to kiss him and tell him he loves him and the other part knows it’s not coming.

       Louis finds a decent outfit for the next day and holds the folded clothes to his stomach. He knows Harry is in the room, but he doesn’t acknowledge him; he walks past him to the door.

       “Are you . . . You’re not sleeping here?” Harry asks hesitantly. The older boy sighs before shaking his head and leaving the room to one of the guest rooms. Harry watches as the door closes in front of him and he doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin. In hopes of washing the night’s events away, Harry jumps in the shower and scrubs his skin until it is sore and red. For the first time in a long time, he feels disgusting and he just wants it to go away.

       That night, neither boys sleep much. Louis is still not able to form words out loud. This whole time, he’s always known what Harry has been doing, but seeing it, actually seeing it made Louis’ stomach turn. He feels sick and betrayed and sad, oh God, he feels sad. Why couldn’t everything have worked out? Why couldn’t everything have gone smoothly? Why couldn’t Louis express to Harry his motive for buying him? Louis wraps his arms around his knees and tries to go to sleep, but it’s cold and his mind is buzzing.

       Harry lays flat on his back with his hands folded on his stomach. He tries to turn off his thoughts like he’s done hundreds of times before, but he can’t. He feels bad, like genuinely, completely bad and every time he remembers the look Louis had on his face when he saw Harry just makes him feel worse. Louis took him into his house and shares everything—this is his room, his bed for God’s sake—and Harry messed everything up. He’s the one who fucked up and yet Louis’ the one who is not sleeping in his own bed. He tries to go to sleep, but it’s cold and his mind is buzzing.

       The following morning when Harry enters the kitchen, Louis gives him the cold shoulder. Harry takes note of how tired Louis looks and instantly, his guilt multiplies. It’s his fault Louis is tired because he’s always finding Harry and bringing him back home. It’s his fault Louis isn’t talking to him. It’s his fault that Louis is clearly hurt. It’s all of his fault.

       Wordlessly, Louis leaves the kitchen and then the house completely. He can’t be around Harry right now and he just needs some space to think by himself. He is hurt and he feels like kicking himself in the arse. Why did he have to go and save Harry? Why did he end up falling for Harry? Why did he have to go find Harry and bring him back? Why did he do this to himself?

       Because he has nowhere else to go, Louis ends up at the Red Wave. No one is there, of course, so he gives himself busy work. He goes to the back storage room and begins taking inventory. It was just a few days ago that inventory was taken, but Louis doesn’t care. Inventory takes a lot of time and he has plenty of it.

       For the next few days, Louis spends the majority of his time at his club or out doing something for his club. The items—everything from toilet paper to little drink umbrellas—he usually has delivered every week, Louis goes and personally picks them up. He drives all over town and he doesn’t mind it at all because for a little bit, Louis can pretend he is just driving to drive and without an actual destination. It’s a nice thought, but it doesn’t last long because he remembers why he’s busying himself so much.

       When Friday comes around, Louis has yet to say anything to Harry; he continues avoiding him around the house when he’s there. He goes out to his car and drives to work to set up for the night hours earlier than it needs to be done. When Louis goes to unlock the door, he finds the door already open. With a scrunched up brow, he enters the club wondering why on earth the door is unlocked. Maybe he’s being robbed because that is just what he needs after the week he’s been having. The robber will probably beat the shit out of Louis considering Louis already deposited all of the money from the club into the bank and the place will be trashed.

       He lets the thought go as he walks to the main floor.

~

       Harry has not left the house since Louis brought him back on Saturday night. He thinks about the mess he has created and how close he is to Louis kicking him out. He thinks about how much he hurt Louis and how much he misses Louis being around him. He thinks about the money he has made and how it is not enough for him to live somewhere else. He thinks and he thinks, and all he wants is for things to go back to how they were.

       With Louis not talking to Harry, not touching Harry, not telling Harry he loves him, Harry feels empty. Like, there was something there and then it got ripped away from him and he’s left alone. For once, he actually wants to talk to Louis, but there have only been a handful of times that they were in the same room within the past few days and even then, Louis didn’t hesitate to leave.

       By the time Friday comes, Harry has a plan to ask for Louis’ forgiveness. He knows he messed up. He knows he has crossed some moral standing. He knows he has compromised his standards. He knows he has to take responsibility and tell Louis for a change of what is on his mind. The silence is getting to Harry and he is willing to do anything he can for it to end.

       It is ironic to think that Harry can’t stand the silence any longer because it was just a few months ago that he savored the little silence he got. Then again, a few months ago, he still lived with David and he was a different person. That’s it right there: Harry is not the same; he has changed. He feels and he cares, and he finally understands. He misses Louis telling him random things that happen to him and he misses having someone to talk to (even though he never really spoke to Louis). Harry misses it and he’s going to fix it, if it’s not too late, that is.

~

       Louis does a slow three-sixty to see if anything is out of place, but everything is just how he left it the night before. He shakes his head. Maybe with all that is on his mind, he forgot to lock up last night. That’s a possibility and seeing how everything seems to be okay, Louis shouldn’t curse himself for it. Mistakes happen, right? The club isn’t trashed and that’s all that matters.

       He goes behind the bar and expects all of the glasses to make sure they are all clean and ready to go for the night. Louis finds a wine glass with spots on it, so he plucks it out of the group and walks it over to the sink. As he is scrubbing the glass, the door to the club opens, letting a strip of light fall onto the floor. Louis raises his brow and waits for the culprit to walk in.

       Without expecting anyone else to be there, he strides into the Red Wave with a crate full of CDs. He has loads of new material he’s wanted to try out, but he just hasn’t had the time to bring all of it to the club. He figured he would test some of it out before anyone shows up to set up to make sure he doesn’t completely suck and ruin everything. He sets down the crate next to the turntables and when he looks up, he sees Louis looking back at him.

       Zayn takes his time to get to the bar. He can clearly see that his friend is suffering from something from the bags under his eyes and how he’s hunching his shoulders, but that doesn’t stop the words coming out of his mouth. “What’s wrong? Did you finally catch some nasty shit from that whore?”

       Louis doesn’t reply. He is too tired and too over Zayn’s attitude, so he just dries the wine glass.

       “Aw, c’mon Lou,” Zayn fake sympathizes. “I’m sure a shot of antibiotics to your arse will clear it all up.”

 

       He slams the glass down next to the sink. “Zayn, shut up, alright? You don’t know one fucking thing and I don’t need your words to add on to everything. Just piss off.”

       “What’s up?” Zayn asks out of pure curiosity.

       “Like you give a shit.”

       “I do.”

       “Yeah, right,” Louis says sarcastically. “Just do whatever you came here to do and just show up to work tonight.” His tone is bitter and tired.

       “No,” Zayn refutes. “Look, I know we haven’t spoken much these past few months, but I’m still your friend. I’m here for you no matter what.”

       Louis rolls his eyes at the phrase. He had said the same thing to Harry numerous times and look where it’s gotten him. “If you were my actual friend, you wouldn’t have said everything you have said. You would have just dealt with it and helped me. And fuck, this sounds like a conversation we’ve already had so like I’ve already said, piss off.”

       He rests his elbows on the bar and places his chin in his hands. “The only reason I said all those things is because you deserve so much better. We’ve known each other for such a long time and there has never been a time where you haven’t shown everyone just how big of a heart you have. You always try to take care of everyone… you always put everyone else first. But Louis, for once, put yourself first. I get that you wanted to help Harry, but this isn’t the way. You’re just gonna end up fucked and miserable.”

       The words sink in and yes, Zayn is right about Louis always helping others. Yes, Louis never puts himself first. Yes, Louis is miserable.

       Zayn continues. “This place here,” he gestures to the space around him. “This is your dream. You had an idea and went for it. Everything worked out and you are successful, but you aren’t here anymore to feel the success. You are too busy wasting your time on Harry and he’s not worth it. You worked your arse off to get this place up and running and you’re just giving it all away for something that doesn’t even matter. I’m not trying to be an arsehole, I’m just trying to make you see what you should really be focusing on.”

       He takes a breath. “I understand that you don’t understand. There was more to buying Harry than just saving him. I didn’t realize it at first, but the more time I’ve spent with him, it all made sense.”

       “Lou—”

       “No,” he cuts him off. “Lemme finish. You say that Harry’s not worth it and that he doesn’t matter. You say all these things yet you also say you’re my friend and really, Zayn, none of that makes sense. I will concede that I am devastated right now, but you don’t deserve to know why. And yes, the Red Wave is my dream, but I’m not giving it up. I’m holding on to it with dear life because it is the only thing in my life right now that hasn’t let me down.”

       Zayn sighs. “You’re right, I don’t understand it and I’ll probably never understand it, but I am done fighting with you about it. I won’t stop telling you that you deserve better, because you do, but I will stop giving you shit about it.” If he’s honest, Zayn does not like how things are with Louis. They used to be so close and were the best of friends, and as much as he dislikes Harry, he is done letting Harry ruin his friendship with Louis.

       “If that’s your way of saying sorry, you need a helluva better apology because that’s not gonna cut it.”

       About an hour later, Louis returns home. He doesn’t want to spend any more alone time with Zayn because even though he isn’t saying anything to Louis, he keep staring at him. It’s a bit creepy, to be honest, and solemn looks won’t make Louis forgive that easily. His supposed best friend has said so many hurtful things that Louis doesn’t know if he’ll be able to completely forgive him. Then again, Zayn is his best friend and it’s been a weird few months not talking to him.

       This past week, Louis has been thinking about his whole life. From a young age, he has always been lending his hand out to help someone out. It started with helping his mum with his little sisters, then went on to volunteering at as many events as he could do and extended to wherever his heart led him to. Louis feels like the people he should be close with are much too far away and after a lot of thinking, he makes the decision to bring them close again.

       The moment Louis steps over the threshold, he is overwhelmed by the smell that is emerging from the kitchen area. It is a mixture of so many different foods that Louis can’t pry them apart to figure out what the different smells are. He drops his keys in the bowl and shrugs off his coat before he follows his nose into the kitchen.

       “I don’t know what you’re cooking, but it smells fucking delicious.”

       Surprised, Harry drops the pot in his hands when he hears Louis’ voice, spilling it’s contents all over the floor. “Shit,” he mutters as he quickly drops to the floor with a dish towel and begins cleaning it up.

       Louis walks over and crouches down, grabbing Harry’s hands to make it stop. “Hey, it’s okay. We can clean this up later.”

       The younger boy stares at him hesitantly. “You’re not mad?”

       “At the spilled soup? Nah.” Louis stands up, bringing Harry up with him.

       “But you’re talking to me.”

       “I am.”

       “But I thought you were upset.”

       “I was.”

       “But I . . .” Harry pauses. “I don’t understand.”

       Louis sighs. “C’mon, we both have some explaining to do and from the look of this kitchen, you’ve been here for a while.” There are a pile of dishes in the sink, pots and pans covering the stovetop, and random ingredients and food items all over the surface of the counters. He leads Harry to the next room which is the dining room and a gasp escapes from Louis’ lips when he sees the table. The tall candles are set up in the middle while two places are set; there are all sorts of food all around and it all just looks so beautiful. “Did you do all of this?”

       Harry glances at the ground and nods. For hours now, he’s been cooking everything he could with what he had at the house because what better way to spill your heart out than giving someone a happy stomach?

       A small smile tugs at Louis’ lips. He places a hand on the small of Harry’s back and gently pushes him out of the dining room and into the living room. “Here there are no distractions.”

       “I’m sorry,” Harry blurts out. “I was stupid and I should have just stopped and thought of what I was doing, but I don’t think and that’s just how I did things for so long. I wasn’t used to the change . . . I wasn’t used to you and I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to see that and I’m a twat for making you go out and find me when I should have just stayed here and cleaned or something. I feel horrible, which is also something new because usually, I don’t feel anything, but that all changes when it comes to you and I should have realized sooner what it meant, but I’m a bloody idiot. I understand if you want me out. It won’t take me long to get my things together and hell, I can be gone within the hour if you want and I’m just really, really sorry. I thought that cooking for you would make everything okay, but who am I kidding? It’s just food and again, I’m really, so, so sorry, and now I’m going to shut up.” Harry is out of breath by the end of it and this is the most he’s every spoken to anyone and he really, really hopes that it made sense.

       “Really, all you had to make is mac ’n cheese and all would be okay,” Louis says with a smirk. He is amused by Harry’s rant and he didn’t catch some of it because Harry said so much so quickly, but he gets the main point of the rant. “And no, I do not want you out. I brought you here for a reason and you are not getting away from me that easily.”

       Harry opens his mouth to say something, but he closes it when no words come out. After all of that, Louis doesn’t want him to leave. Why? It doesn’t make sense. Louis should hate him, kick him out, yell at him, something. “But . . . why?”

       The older boy exhales. “My mistake was never telling you why you are here. I should have told you from the beginning, but I’ve been beating around the bush, hoping that you’d just understand, but I was wrong to think that.” Louis pauses for a moment before continuing. “Harry, you need to understand me when I say that I did not buy you for your . . . er, services.”

       “Then, why did you?” Harry questions. “I’m a nobody and you spent so much of your money and time and went through all this shit just for me. Why? I’m not worth it.”

       “No, Harry, you are worth it. When I found out the situation you were in,” Louis answers, “I immediately decided that I needed to help you. You just had something about you that made me want to know you, to help you, and I went with it. I talked to David, then my mum and a lawyer, and then everything came together. Harry, you are not a nobody. You are someone who needed help and that’s why I’m here. You are someone better than the life David created for you.”

       “Funny,” Harry chuckles. “Your mum had said the same thing to me when we visited.”

       He smiles. “She tends to be right a lot.”

       “My mum was like that, too, so I guess it’s a mum thing.”

       “And that’s another thing,” Louis sighs. “I should have asked you what happened to your parents. It didn’t occur to me until you were back to selling yourself.”

       “I’m sorry.”

       “You’ve already apologized. It’s my turn now.”

       “No, you don’t need to apologize.”

       “But, I do. I’m sorry for not explaining everything to you earlier. You’re not the only bloody idiot living in this house,” Louis says. “It’s been months and I really should have said something earlier.”

       “I guess we’re both at fault, then, aren’t we? But, everyone makes mistakes, yeah? Maybe we should just forget them and move on.”

       Louis considers Harry’s words. Everyone does make mistakes and he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t look past those mistakes after a while. Those mistakes shouldn’t define anyone and should only be used to learn from. Harry’s words are true and Louis decides to be the bigger person for everyone’s sake. “Yeah,” Louis nods. “Moving on sounds like a good idea. This past week, I’ve realized a lot and I’ve seen all the mistakes I’ve made. Starting over will be good.” He looks directly at Harry. “For both of us.”

       Harry smiles. “I couldn’t agree more, but I do have one more question.” The younger boy is relieved that Louis is not going to kick him out, that he heard what he had to say and that everything is actually okay. He still feels bad that Louis walked in on him performing the task, but something tells him that Louis will put that behind him. Harry wishes he would have realized sooner that it does matter and that Louis actually cares and that this is all for the better.

       “What is it?”

       “If you didn’t buy me from David for my services, as you said, then why haven’t you ever said anything?” His brow is raised and there’s a smirk playing on his lips.

       Blush creeps onto Louis’ cheeks. Shit. “Um… well, y’know how I . . . um.” He sighs and closes his eyes. When he opens them, Harry is beaming at him. “Every time I told you that I’m always here for you and that I uh . . . and that I love you, I meant it.”

       “Really?”

       “Really.”

       Harry moves forward until he is right in front of Louis. “Well, if that’s the case then . . .” He trails off only to lean forward, but stops right before his lips touch Louis’. “No wonder you kept kissing me. I thought you were trying to pass on your cooties or something.”

       Louis rolls his eyes before closing the gap and kissing Harry, and for the first time ever, Harry kisses him back. The kiss is sweet and is closure for both of them by how they finally know that regardless of the mistakes they have made, they still want each other.

       With grins spread across their faces, the two boys sit down at the dining room table and have a proper dinner. Louis is glad that everything is out and that he can finally be with Harry with him on the same page. Harry is feeling all sorts of good things and this is his life now which he has nothing to complain about. After months of misunderstandings, both Louis and Harry are at a good place.

       When it is time for Louis to go to work, he brings Harry along with him because he figures he needs to get out of the house for a while. Harry is hesitant, but Louis assures him that everything will be okay. He’ll probably give the younger boy some meaningless task to do all night to keep him busy with a strict no eye-contact policy just in case any old clients are roaming around.

       Louis tells Harry to sit at the bar and slice lemons and limes as he gets everything situated behind the bar. Stan walks in not too long later and panics when he sees Louis. “Hey Stan,” he greets.

       “I’m getting fired, aren’t I?” Stan asks bluntly.

       “Of course not,” Louis promises him. He thought about firing Stan so he could have his job back, but Louis could never do such a thing. He felt mean just thinking about it and he doesn’t want Stan to think that he used him, even though that’s what he technically did. “But, you are no longer working as a bartender full-time, only part-time if that alright with you.”

       Stan lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. Before you offered me this job, I was about to drown myself in my tears and move back to Doncaster.”

       “There’s no need for that mate,” Louis says. “Tonight, you’ll be tending the bar, but tomorrow, I have other plans for you.”

       “And suddenly, I feel utterly uncomfortable.”

       He chuckles. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing too horrible. Oh, hey,” he points to Harry. “This is Harry and Harry, this is my friend from back home, Stan.”

       “Hello,” Harry greets him politely with a smile. Louis stops himself from squealing at how freaking adorable Harry is and that’s when he notices another friend of his walk in.

       “I’ll be right back,” he tells them as he walks away. “Zayn!” he calls, making his friend stop in his tracks. When Louis reaches him, he smiles. “Thanks for showing up tonight, mate.”

       Zayn shrugs. “Whatever.”

       “No, really. Even with everything, I could still count on you to DJ and thanks for that.” Louis’ voice is kind and friendly.

       He gives Louis an odd look. “Are you alright?”

       “Yeah,” Louis nods. “I’m alright. Harry’s alright. You’re alright. Everything’s alright.”

       “You sure about that?”

       “Yes.”

       “You’re acting a bit strange, mate.”

       “Nah,” Louis says. “I’m just happy, that’s all. And I realized something.”

       “Realized what?”

       He smiles. “There’s been something I’ve been meaning to do for a while and I don’t know why I haven’t already done it, but either way, you are the right person for it.”

       Zayn doesn’t need any explanation after that because he knows that he has his friendship back. He might not know what changed Louis’ mind, but he’s not questioning it. “Yeah,” he nods. “I should be able to help with that.”

  
  



	13. 13

       Waking up and feeling a warmth that no blanket could possibly radiate is different—a good different—and it’s overwhelmingly nice. Not sure where this warmth is coming from, Louis tries to move away from it, but he can’t. He then becomes aware of the heavy weight that is pressing down on his midsection and blocking his arms. Louis tries squirming, but he’s stuck.

       He’s trapped.

       With a sense of panic, he tries again to move and get out of the grip, but he has no luck. Louis holds his breath and reaches the little that he can to the heavy weight that’s trapping him and what he finds is not what he expected. The weight is so, so warm and is so, so soft and the moment he touches it, he feels another source of heat against the back of his neck. The weight isn’t as heavy as before, but it wraps tighter around Louis. He keeps his eyes closed as he scoots back a little, getting as close to the warmth as possible, letting his panic slip away.

       “You keep moving.” The voice is full of sleep, making it low and groggy. This makes a shiver go down Louis’ spine because he doesn’t think he’s heard anything that sexy before. He purposely squirms so the grip gets even tighter, locking him in place. “Stop that.”

       He smiles. “What if I don’t want to?” he challenges as he tries to get out of the grasp again.

       Instead of just pushing Louis closer, in one swift movement, Harry removes his arm from around Louis’ waist and pins the older boy down on the bed by his wrists. “Then, I’m just gonna have to make you.”

       Usually, Louis would have some sort of retort, but not this morning; he is mesmerized by how big and clear Harry’s eyes are. Louis can’t help but stare up at him and the fact that Harry is staring back at him with the same gaze totally makes Louis forget anything he would have said. “This is new,” Louis whispers after a minute or two.

       Harry raises his brow. “Good new or bad new?”

       Still restricted, Louis cranes his neck up until his lips meet Harry’s. “Good, definitely good.” Having someone else sleep in the same bed as Louis is still pretty new to him, and he doesn’t mind this at all. Sure, when he lived with his parents, one or both of the twins would sneak into his room if they had a bad dream, but that doesn’t count. It was odd when Harry first arrived—for more than one reason—but then, Louis got used to it; however, this, whatever this is, is something Louis doesn’t think he can get used to.

       “Now, will you stop moving?” Harry asks. The older boy ponders the question for a short moment before attempting to get out of Harry’s grasp. In retaliation, Harry lowers his body so he is completely laying on top of Louis so all of his weight is on him. The warmth covers Louis, but he’s stubborn, so he continues squirming, even though he can barely move with Harry squishing him.

       The movement against Harry makes him feel something that he’s not sure what exactly it is. He does know that he wants more of it, but then he feels it. With wide eyes, Harry moves off of Louis and nearly trips over his own feet as he stands up straight. He can’t. He just can’t.

       Louis sits up on his elbows. “You alright?” he asks, completely oblivious.

       “Yeah, I should go make breakfast,” he answers quickly. Before anything else is said, Harry leaves the room and heads down to the kitchen. Whatever that feeling was, he liked it and for some reason, that scares the younger boy.

       The next day, the two boys are lounging around the house in t-shirts and sweatpants. Before Harry could cook anything, Louis ordered Chinese takeout and just like the time before, the food is spread out on the coffee table.

       “I want to watch something,” Louis announces as he makes no move to get up from the couch and pick something from his massive collection.

       “Then watch something,” Harry responds with a slight smile on his lips.

       Louis sighs. “But I don’t want to get up.”

       “But how else will you watch something?” he questions. By the time Harry ends the question, he realizes the trap he’s fallen into and Louis’ puppy dog face is confirming it. “Nope, no way. I’m not getting up either.”

       “Aw, c’mon Haz!” he pleads.

       “Haz?”

       “Yes, Haz,” Louis repeats. “Now that you have a cute nickname, get off your arse and put something in.”

       Disregarding his demand, Harry asks, “Why Haz?”

       “Because,” Louis emphasizes. “It’s short and I like it and calling you Harry all the time is boring, so will you please now do me the greatest favor ever?” He tries to act as innocent as possible in hopes of not having to get up himself.

       “But Harry’s my name.” For his entire life, Harry has always been Harry and that’s it. No one has ever called him anything else unless they were one of his clients where he remained nameless. People give others nicknames out of love and maybe, just maybe, Harry understands everything a little more.

       Louis places his chopsticks and the takeout container on the table before moving closer to Harry. “Yes, it is your name, but Haz is my name for you, alright? Nothing’s going to change that because if anyone were to ever ask me, I would tell them that you are my Haz and there’s no telling me anything different.”

       He nods. “It’s just new, ‘s all.”

       With a smirk, Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s neck. “Good new or bad new?”

       A quick kiss and a moment of pure smiles later, he answers, “Good, definitely good.”

       “Great.” Louis removes his hands and gently pushes Harry. “Now that that’s settled, go put in a DVD.”

       He steals a kiss. “Only because . . .” he pauses. Harry has no good reason for getting up that’s logical, so he shakes his head. “Just because.” When he is passed the coffee table, he turns around and looks straight at Louis. “While I’m like five feet away, don’t steal my egg rolls.”

       “I would never!”

       “Right,” Harry says sarcastically as he walks to the huge shelf. He randomly picks a section and ends up in front of the O’s. He scans the titles for a few seconds before he remembers a question he had when he organized the shelf months ago. “What’s One Tree Hill and why do you have all nine seasons?”

       Louis gasps. “You’re joking right? I mean, you have to be joking.”

       “I’m not.”

       “Oh dear, in addition to being technology deprived, you are good-television deprived as well. This is such a shame,” he says, shaking his head.

       “Hey, I am not! The phone you got me is just stupid,” Harry defends. And really, the phone is stupid. It never works properly and is evil if you ask him.

       He hops up from the couch and stands next to Harry. Louis plucks season one off the shelf and takes the first DVD that has Chad Michael Murray’s face on it out of the orange box set. He places it into the DVD player and waits for the title screen to pop up. “You have been missing out, love.”

       Harry stares at Louis with pursed lips and a glare.

       “What?”

       “After all of that, you got up. What was the point in me getting up?” Harry asks.

       “The point,” Louis says as he grabs the front of Harry’s shirt and pulls him closer, “is that I got to watch you walk those legs of yours.” He grins.

       Harry rolls his eyes. “I’m wearing pants, you can’t even see my legs.”

       “Oh, so you don’t mind me checking out your legs?” Gavin DeGraw’s I don’t Want To Be begins playing in the background and Louis smiles.

           Oops. “Shut up.”

       He laughs. “Never. Now c’mon and let me school you on one of the best shows ever.” Louis pulls Harry back to the couch and cuddles next to him as he hits play. “Pay close attention because this episode gets referenced a lot throughout the whole series.”

       The younger boy doesn’t say anything else, he just throws his arm around Louis’ shoulders and leans into him. That feeling returns from the day before and it doesn’t scare him as much as it did.

       On Monday afternoon, Zayn shows up on Louis and Harry’s doorstep. Louis welcomes him in and they are both hit with a sense of quaintness considering Zayn hasn’t been over for the past few months.

       “Thanks for coming,” Louis says as he shuts the front door.

       “No problem,” Zayn replies. “But why am I here? You said you needed help with something?”

       Louis takes Zayn to the main bathroom and points at the tiles. “I love everything about this house except those hideous things. I should have switched them out a long time ago, but I didn’t and now, since we’re all on the same page, I was hoping you could help me.” Louis can easily hire someone to change the bathroom tiles, but this is a chance for him and Zayn to fix their friendship and that is something Louis really wants.

       Zayn accepts. “Of course I’ll help you. You’re still my best mate.”

       He smiles. “Brilliant. It should only take a couple of weeks to get the old tile out and put the new tile in, so we should get to work soon.”

       “Do you have everything?”

       “Not yet,” Louis admits. “But it’s in the works. I should have everything by the end of the week, but since the club is the busiest in the weekends, I thought we’d start a week from today, if that works with you.”

       He nods. “Yeah, that works.”

       A couple of days later when Harry meets Louis in the kitchen after his shower, Louis notices something. He places his tea on the table and tilts his head to the side. “Is that my shirt?”

       Harry tugs the hem of the shirt and smiles sheepishly. It’s pretty obvious that it’s not his own shirt considering that it is a bit shorter in length and it fits a bit tight. “Sorry, I’m behind on my laundry.”

       That statement makes Louis drop his face into his hands. “Shit, I am an inconsiderate, idiotic twat who should be slapped senseless by a fish.”

       “What?” Harry is confused. Louis is not inconsiderate in the slightest, so why would he say he is?

       He stands up, leaving his half-drunk cup of tea behind. “Put on some shoes. We have a major day ahead of us.”

       Harry scrunches his brow. “What’re we doing?”

       “Shopping,” Louis answers as he exits the kitchen and goes to gather his wallet and phone. He should have taken Harry shopping as soon as they got married, but of course, this is just another thing that Louis didn’t do when he should have.

       Louis drives Harry to the nearest shopping center and tells him he can get whatever he wants. Harry starts off by picking up similar clothes to the ones he has, like new editions of them and Louis catches on after a little while. “You do know we’re building your wardrobe, right?” Louis asks, gesturing towards the third, plain white t-shirt Harry is holding.

       “My last name doesn’t quite fit me, if I’m honest,” he responds, looking down at the items of clothing he’s picked out. Sure, he doesn’t have all that much, but it’s not like he needs a hundred different outfits.

           We can change that, Louis thinks to himself. Out loud, he says, “There’s nothing wrong with having basic shirts or whatever, but mix in some other things. This isn’t the only shop on the list so don’t quit.”

       Harry gets more comfortable with shopping after that. He picks out about five graphic t-shirts, a few button-up shirts of different colors, a couple jumpers, and a pair of brown suede shoes. Louis easily pays for all of the items and drags Harry to the next store where he has to convince the curly-haired boy that it is necessary to have a couple suits. After much debate and lots of time in the dressing room, Harry settles on a black suit and a gray suit with matching shirts and dress shoes. Louis picks out a few ties, but Harry shakes his head and goes toward the bowties because bowties are cool.

       Two hours later, both boys have their hands full of shopping bags. “Lou, I think we went overboard. This is a lot and I shouldn’t have let you buy all of this for me. It’s too much and you really didn’t have to.”

       Louis stops walking and faces Harry. “Really, it’s no problem. It’s not like we bought all of this for no reason. You need clothes Haz, and I can’t let you walk around in the same, old clothes forever. You deserve better and you deserve to look good.”

       “But you just spent so much money,” Harry retorts. “I don’t want you to spend all of your money on me.”

       He shakes his head. “Trust me when I say that everything that we have in our hands is for you and that I am doing this because I love you and I want to do this. Don’t feel bad, okay?”

       Harry still feels guilty for spending so much money, but he nods. “Thank you.”

       “No need to thank me.” Louis’ voice is full of modesty. He is doing the right thing. He’s said it from the beginning and he will continue saying it. He is doing the right thing. “And don’t think I didn’t catch the fact that you called me Lou,” he smirks.

           Oops. “Did I?”

       “Oh, don’t even try to play that.” Louis rolls his eyes and chuckles while Harry miserably fails at trying to contain his smile. The feeling is a bit stronger and the fear is a bit weaker.

       Hours before either of them has to be at the Red Wave on that Friday, Louis and Zayn are catching up on lost time. Zayn is telling Louis about the new mixes he’s been working on and how he’s thinking about adding in some vocals, but doesn’t think his voice is good enough for it. Louis assures him that his voice is golden and that he shouldn’t waste his talent.

       Zayn changes the subject. “You know you got a new neighbor?”

       “Really?” This is news to Louis. He’s been so caught up in his working relationship with Harry and his rekindled friendship with Zayn, and his responsibility of the club that he’s paid no attention.

       “Yeah,” Zayn nods. “I saw her get into her car when I was coming up to your door. She’s pretty fit.”

       Louis shrugs. “I’m sure she is.” Whether his new neighbor is fit or not has no meaning to him because Louis only has eyes for Harry and speaking of . . .

       “I thought you might be hungry,” Harry says as he places a plate in front of each of the boys on the coffee table with a sandwich on it.

       “How very kind of you,” Louis says. He beams at Harry and if Zayn wasn’t there, he’d totally attack his face. To completely stop himself, Louis picks up the sandwich and takes a bite. “Oh, this needs mustard. I’ll be back,” he announces as he gets up and leaves to the kitchen.

       Harry could have gotten the mustard and he wishes Louis asked him to because standing awkwardly with someone who is staring at you with daggers isn’t fun. The younger boy stuffs his hands in the front pockets on his trousers and looks down to avoid Zayn’s glare.

       “Whore,” Zayn mutters under his breath, but it’s loud enough for Harry to hear.

       “Pardon?” Harry had to have misheard Zayn, right?

       “You heard me,” he says as he pushes the sandwich away from him.

       Louis returns to the living room with a bottle of mustard in his hand and Harry walks out of the room. He makes the decision to get Harry and Zayn to be friends in that moment, so they could all just have a good time. Louis loves these two people which is why he is sure that they will have no problem being friends.

       When Louis comes home after work, he finds Harry asleep on the couch with the title screen of disc three of season two of One Tree Hill playing on the telly. He smiles because one, Harry actually is putting an effort into watching Louis’ favorite show and two, Harry looks completely adorable when he is asleep.

       Just as Louis is placing a blanket over Harry, he opens his eyes and yawns. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Louis apologizes.

       “Wasn’t really asleep.” Harry yawns again.

       “Come on,” Louis nods. “Let’s go to bed.” He turns off the television and Harry turns out the lights before they walk down the hall and up the stairs. The couple strip down to their briefs and pull on a comfortable t-shirt before falling into bed. Louis snuggles up to Harry and immediately feels how tense he is.

       Since Zayn called Harry a whore, it has not left his thoughts. Harry knew from the beginning that Zayn did not like him and that confirmed it completely. But what did he do for Zayn to hate him? Yeah, okay, Harry did sell himself for sex, but that’s not all who Harry is. Louis has obviously looked past that part of Harry’s life and he couldn’t be more grateful, but why can’t Zayn be like Louis? He feels like there is something that he should do, but there’s really no point. He’ll just have to avoid Zayn and that will be it because as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Harry really is—

       Harry’s thoughts are cut off when Louis kisses his cheek. “You alright?”

       He nods. “Yeah,” he lies. “I just . . .” Harry sighs. “We should just go to sleep.” Louis is not convinced. There is clearly something on Harry’s mind that is bothering him and he wants to make Harry feel better. Louis takes a breath before lowering the hand that he had resting on Harry’s stomach. “Louis, what are you – oh.”

       That feeling Harry’s been having is exceptionally strong and the fear is almost completely gone.

  
  



	14. 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS CHAPTER WILL GIVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS OF FEELS.
> 
> SOURCE: I GOT FEELS BY WRITING IT. I ADVISE YOU TO TAKE DEEP BREATHS AND NOT TO READ WHILE AROUND PEOPLE (i.e. School, work, etc). PREPARE YOURSELF AND NOW, READ.

       Louis wakes up to find big, green eyes staring at him. He smiles because he can surely get used to this – waking up next to the most beautiful person alive – and even though it’s only been about a week, he doesn’t want it any different. It’s weird to think of how everything turned out for him and the order Louis went in considering he went marriage, love, then dating instead of dating, love, then marriage. It is weird and it shouldn’t have worked, but it is and Louis couldn’t be happier.

       “What’s with the face?”

       “I’m sure you’d have the same face if you woke up and found some guy staring at you,” Louis answers. His tone is light, partially because it’s morning and partially because it’s Harry.

       “Some guy?” Harry cocks his brow.

       “Yes.” He shifts his position to lay on his side, so he can stare back.

       Harry tilts his head to the side. “Some guy that you totally worked your hand over?” Louis instantly blushes. “I didn’t know you worked that way,” Harry continues and Louis buries his head under his pillow. “How on earth are you a virgin with hands like those?”

       Louis mumbles something incoherently from under the pillow, which makes Harry snatch it away from him and ask him to repeat what he said. “I said, can we drop this please?”

       “No, actually,” he says as Harry sits up a bit. “I’m not . . . Are you . . .” Harry doesn’t know how to phrase this question without it being awkward. Since the day this all started, he has always remembered Zayn’s words from the parking lot. Then, Harry thought that was the reason for Louis buying him, but he knows now that he was wrong.

       He sighs. “I know what you’re trying to ask.” Louis grabs his pillow back and says, “Yes, I am.” And then he covers his face with the pillow again. He is embarrassed that he has never done that sort of thing with anyone in his twenty-three, almost twenty-four years of his life.

       Harry moves the pillow away once again, but Louis’ eyes are closed. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.” He shrugs. “Not many people these days can say that and if I had the choice, then I’d be right there with you.”

       Louis opens his eyes to that. “Now, I feel like shit. You should have had that choice. Your life shouldn’t have been that way and I just wish I could take it back for you. Harry, you’re such a good person and it pisses me off that people don’t know that and it pisses me off that you had to go through what you went through.”

       “You wouldn’t still be saying that if you knew everything I’ve done,” he says softly, frowning.

       “No,” Louis shakes his head. “There is nothing you could possibly do to make me say that you’re not a good person, that I don’t love you.”

       He doesn’t say anything in response; Harry just moves over until his head is resting on Louis’ chest. If there’s anything, Harry rather be nowhere else.

~

       Harry is in the kitchen, slicing a tomato for his grilled cheese sandwich, when he hears the doorbell go off. He lowers the knife and wipes his hands on the dish towel that he has hanging off his shoulder before he goes to see who is at the door. Through the peephole, Harry sees Zayn and he internally groans. He thinks about not opening the door and going back to the kitchen like the doorbell never rang, but before he can put his thoughts into action, Louis comes down the stairs.

       “Was that the door?” he asks as he passes Harry. The younger boy nods once before turning away and leaving because he rather not be there. Louis is about to stop Harry from leaving, but the doorbell rings again and he figures Harry has something cooking on the stove. With a shrug, Louis opens the front door and welcomes in Zayn. Taking in his worn out jeans and shoes, Louis asks, “You ready to work?”

       “Hell yeah!” Zayn answers.

       “Now that’s what I like to hear.” Louis smiles. This is really the best idea he could have ever come up with.

       The two friends head to the main bathroom and Louis does not hesitate to hand Zayn a sledge hammer. “Smashing,” the raven-haired boy says before swinging the hammer with enough force to break the tile.

       In the kitchen, Harry nearly flips the pan over when he hears the bang. He holds on to the counter and closes his eyes, letting his breathing go back to normal. When everything seems to be nice and calm again, Harry places his grilled cheese sandwich on a plate. Another loud bang sounds and it only takes a few seconds before it is continuous which makes Harry sigh. He takes his plate into the cool London air and shuts the door behind him in hopes of having a bit of peace and quiet while Zayn is around. He still does not know why Zayn hates him so much and Harry doesn’t plan on asking.

       It takes a good half hour to break all of the tile and about another hour to get all of the broken tile off of the floor. When there is a large trash bag filled with the broken pieces of tile sitting in the doorway of the bathroom, Louis wipes the line of sweat on his forehead with his forearm. “That took longer than I thought it would,” he states as he glances at the distorted-looking ground.

       “You’re telling me.” Zayn stretches his arms out in front of him and winces when he feels his muscles pull. “Shit, my arms are gonna be sore tomorrow.”

       “Mine, too,” Louis agrees. “Call it a day?”

       Zayn chuckles. “Day one and you’re already half-assing it.”

       “Shut up!” The older boy rolls his eyes as he walks past Zayn and out of the bathroom. Louis goes straight downstairs to the kitchen and right before he gets to the refrigerator, he spots a grilled cheese sandwich covered in plastic wrap on the counter. He immediately knows Harry left him this sandwich and his heart swells. How did everything work out like this? Louis asks himself as he smiles stupidly.

       “What’s got you smiling?” Zayn asks as he hops onto the counter and sits next to the sandwich.

       Louis drops the smile. “Oh, nothing.” He walks the remaining steps to the fridge. “Water?” he offers.

       “Yeah,” Zayn nods. “Thanks.” He takes the bottle from Louis and takes a few sips. Louis twists the top off of his own bottle, but right when he is about to take a sip, he stops and lets out what might as well be considered a giggle. He shakes his head and looks down at the ground with a smile. Zayn takes note of this and clears his throat. “Seriously mate, what is up with you?”

       “I just . . .” He looks up and shrugs. “I don’t even know how to explain it. I just have an overwhelming feeling.”

       “What kind of feeling?”

       “A good one,” he answers honestly. “Kinda like everything’s finally falling into place.”

       Zayn opens his mouth to say something, but his phone buzzes in his pocket, which makes him lose his train of thought. He replies to the text and then asks, “You said we’re done for the day, right?”

       “Wow, nice Zayn,” Louis says sarcastically. “Spend a couple hours and then ditch me for someone who probably is ugly and has a flat bum.”

       “More like ditching the person who is ugly and has a flat bum,” he replies without missing a beat.

       “Oi!” Louis places the water bottle down. “Don’t make me come over there!”

       “Oh God, please don’t,” Zayn responds after taking Louis’ words as a pun. He jumps off the counter as soon as Louis lunges at him. He runs out of the kitchen and down the hallway with the plan to run out of the house and to his car, but when he opens the door, he finds a pretty blond standing on the doorstep.

       “Um, hello,” the blond greets him with a smile.

       Before he can respond, Louis comes up behind him screaming, “Zayn, you bloody wanker!” He grabs Zayn’s shoulder and is about to shove him out of the door, but he notices the third party. Louis clears his throat and lets his friend go. “Sorry about that.”

       She shrugs. “No need to apologize. I’m sure he truly is a bloody wanker.”

       “Hey!” Zayn says out of offense.

       She chuckles and Louis joins in. “So, what do I owe this pleasure?” he asks after a short moment.

       “Oh, I have something of yours,” she says before reaching into her handbag and pulling out an envelope. She hands it to him. “The mailman mixed up our mail.”

       “Thank you,” Louis smiles. He drops his smile after a moment when he realizes something. “I am a horrible neighbor,” he states.

       She furrows her brow. “Why would you say that?”

       “When you moved in, I should have welcomed you to the neighborhood with biscuits or something.” Louis shakes his head.

       “You just keep fucking up, don’t ya, mate?” Zayn asks.

       “Not helping.”

       “Well, if it’s any consolation, the name’s Michelle, I moved here to get away from my mother who is mental, just throwing that out there, and I’ll skip the biscuits and go straight for the shot of tequila,” Michelle declares proudly.  

       Louis chuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

       “Brill.” Michelle shifts her feet. “Well, I should head back before my kitchen catches fire. I’ll see you guys around.”

       “Sure. It was nice meeting you.”

       “You, too.” She smiles once more before walking away.

       As Louis closes the door, he sees Zayn giving him a look that he’s not too sure he enjoys. “What?” he asks.

       “I told you she was fit.”

       “I never said she wasn’t.”

       Zayn raises his brow. “So, you’re agreeing that she’s fit?”

       “Again, I never said she wasn’t.”

       “Hmmm…” Zayn taps his pointer finger on his chin.

       Louis rolls his eyes. “Get out of my house, Malik,” he orders in a flat tone.

       Zayn places his hands over his heart. “You’re kicking me out?” He pretends to be offended and frowns.

       “You were ditching me anyways.”

       He drops his hands. “That is true. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

       “Yeah, bye,” Louis says as he shuts the door behind Zayn. He’s known Zayn for years and he can honestly say that Zayn has never been so weird. Maybe it gets worse with age or something of the sort.

       Absentmindedly, Louis wanders into the living room and he finds Harry sprawled out on the couch with earphones in his ears. He stands quietly for a moment and listens. Harry has the music turned up extremely loud and Louis can basically sing along to every word of the song. He crosses the room and yanks the earphones out of Harry’s ears making the younger boy jump.

       “Sorry,” Louis apologizes. “Didn’t mean to frighten you.”

       Harry sits up and crosses his legs in front of him. “ ‘s fine.”

       “Y’know, it’s not good for the ears to listen to music so loudly,” Louis says, gesturing towards the earphones that he’s still holding. “You could do serious damage.”

       He nods, but what else was he supposed to do in order to block out the fact that Louis was hanging out with the person who definitely does not like Harry? Loud music and a nap seemed to work, but Harry will have to find better ways to keep clear of Zayn.

~

       When he was younger, Louis had been fond of having photographs of everyone in his life framed around his room. It made him feel like he was never alone and that no matter what, the people in these photos had his back. When Louis moved out of his parents’ house and into his own, he made sure to have photos of his family and friends throughout the house considering he was living alone.

Every single photo comes with a memory and there is always a smile on Louis’ face whenever he stops for a short moment and looks at one. He can tell you a story about when and where, and what was happening when each photograph was taken; however, there is one photo placed in the house that he has no memory of and that is simply because the photo is not his.

       Harry stumbles into the bedroom after brushing his teeth in the hallway bathroom since the joint bathroom is still being renovated. It is late at night and the younger boy is worn out from watching two full discs of One Tree Hill with Louis reciting every line and pausing the show to make sure Harry noticed all of the details. Honestly, if Louis never showed Harry that first episode, Harry doubts he would have ever watched One Tree Hill and really, it’s not a bad show.

       “What’re you looking at?” Harry asks as he sits down next to Louis.

       Louis angles the framed photo to the side, so Harry can see and he automatically turns his head to the bedside table where that photo usually is. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice this until today,” Louis says, his eyes not leaving it.

       “I probably should’ve asked before I put it on the table.”

       “No need for that, love. These are your parents, right?” Louis asks and Harry nods. “My parents’ and sisters’ faces are all around, so it only makes sense for you to have your parents around as well.”

       Harry scoots closer to Louis, so he can look at the photograph, too. “I miss them, y’know? It’s been so long that I can’t tell you what their voices sounded like or if my dad read the morning paper or if my mum could cook. I barely have any memories of them and I just . . .” He trails off midsentence and sniffles.

       Louis immediately places the frame down and pulls Harry into him, making sure to hold him tight. “I’m really sorry about your mum and dad, Haz. I wish it never happened to them, to you.”

       “But,” Harry says, wiping away the first daring teardrop to fall from his emerald eyes, “if it never happened, then I wouldn’t be here right now. I would have never met you and I could never wish for that.”

       A bundle of feelings explode in Louis’ chest and all he can do is hold Harry tighter and whisper, “I love you,” into his ear.

~

       By the time it is Friday, Louis and Zayn replaced the bathroom countertop to fit two sinks instead on just one, and since they were already changing that, Louis decided to change the cabinet doors as well. They have been working on the bathroom for a few days and it is really coming along; while working together, both Louis and Zayn have fallen back to their endless banter and it’s almost as if they never had a falling out. Zayn really is one of the best friends Louis has ever had and he is really glad that after all of these years, he can still call Zayn his best friend.

       Around midday, Louis is interrupted from his reading by a phone call. He marks his page by slipping a gum wrapper in between the pages before closing the book and picking up. “Hello?”

       “Hey, I have a question,” Zayn says.

       “To get to the other side,” Louis responds with a hint of smugness in his voice.

       “You’re not funny.” His voice is flat, but it doesn’t stop Louis from laughing at his own joke.

       “No, I’m pretty sure I am.”

       Zayn hums. “Why am I friends with you?”

       “Because you love me!”

       “Sure, I do.”

       “Oi!” Louis drops his joking tone. “Who is the person who helped you clean up your mess while at uni? Do we have to revisit exactly what happened and the fact that you were duck taped to a pole without any trousers on?”

       Zayn clears his throat. “I thought we agreed to never talk about that again.”

       “I don’t recall such things.”

       “Louis.”

       “Zayn,” he mimics his friend’s tone.

       “You’re awful,” Zayn says after a short moment.

       “Yeah, yeah,” Louis responds sarcastically. In his normal tone, he asks, “What was it that you had to ask me?”

       “Oh,” he takes a breath. “Y’know this conversation could have ended after like a minute, but you being you is making much longer than necessary.”

       “Kind of like you are now?” Louis loves being a smart ass.

       “Oh, shut up. I wanted to ask you if we’re working today.”

       Louis scrunches his brow. “Why wouldn’t we be? We always work Fridays.”

       “No, you dimwit,” Zayn says after realizing what Louis thinks he meant. “Are we working on the bathroom today?”

       “Oh. Oh.” Louis chuckles. “Nah, we need all of our energy for the crowd tonight.”

       “That’s all I wanted to know. I’ll see ya tonight,” Zayn says before hanging up.

       “Well, bye to you, too,” Louis says to his phone even though there’s no one on the receiving end. He places his phone on the coffee table and picks up his book again. He reads about five pages before Harry comes in the room and hands him a cuppa. “Thanks,” he says before he takes a sip.

       Harry shrugs. “No need. I was just bored.” He sits next to Louis.

       Louis laughs. “You really need to make some friends, Haz. I love you, I really do, but I can’t be the only person you ever talk to.”

       “But I don’t know anyone else,” he argues.

       “And that is exactly why you need to get out there and socialize,” Louis retorts. “You are such a wonderful person that I’m sure everyone will instantly love you. You have a face of an angel and a heart of,” he pauses for a moment. “Of whatever creature has a big heart.”

       Harry shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. “I dunno.”

       “Oh, c’mon! You already have me! Oh, and you have Zayn, too. See, you have two people and I know you can get a third,” Louis says in a I’m-sure-of-it voice. “Come with me to the club tonight and practice your social skills.” All Louis has to do is place Zayn and Harry in the same room, mention some topic that they are both interested in, and watch their friendship bloom.

       The younger boy pulls a face. “Do I have to?”

       Louis sighs. “Not with that face. Look, it’s okay if you don’t want to, but I thought it’d be good for you to have a mate to hang out with when you’re bored or sick of this house. Seriously, Haz, how on earth do you spend so much time here?”

       He shrugs. “I dunno.”

       “Hey, forget trying to make friends, but will you still come with me tonight? I like having you there.” Louis smiles at Harry. He knows that he shouldn’t pressure Harry into anything, so he’ll let this subject drop. For now, anyways.

       Harry bites his lip. He wouldn’t mind going to the Red Wave, but it defeats the purpose of him trying to avoid Zayn. For the past few days, anytime the two of them crossed paths, Zayn made sure to send him a mean look or utter something along the lines of “filthy whore” as he passed. Harry doesn’t want to be in the same place as Zayn, but because Louis wants him there, how can he say no? “Yeah, okay.”

 

       When the bar slows down, Louis leaves it to Ed for a little while as he makes his round around the club to make sure everything is going well. So far, Zayn has been playing a few of his new mixes and the crowd seems to love it, so that is well. So far, security hasn’t had to throw anyone out for doing something stupid, so that is well. So far, Louis has caught a couple about to have sex in the toilet, but he stopped them just in time, so that is well. So far, no one has gotten into a brawl of any sort, so that is well. With a pleased smile, Louis heads back to the bar to find Harry sitting on a stool in front of Ed’s side of the bar and from the looks of it, they’re hitting it off. Harry is a laughing mess and Ed is only encouraging him, which, you guessed it, is well.

       Louis pats Ed’s should as he passes him to get to his side of the bar. He shoots a thumbs up to Harry who returns the gesture accompanied by the smile that makes Louis’ heart swell. Louis could not be in a better mood at the moment and it just seems so weird for everything to be going this well; however, Louis rather not think too much of it because he likes this feeling and wants to keep it as long as possible.

       Right when he is in his designated half of the bar, Louis sees a familiar head of blond hair sitting on the opposite side with all focus on her mobile. Without a second thought, Louis pours a shot of tequila and places it in front her, making her look up at him.

       “You work here?” Michelle asks.

       He nods. “You could say that.”

       She laughs. “Nice.” She gestures toward the shot. “I see that you remember my request.”

       “Yeah, I guess I did,” Louis responds. “What brings you to the Red Wave?”

       Michelle shrugs. “Nothing really. I googled places to go on a Friday night when you have nothing to do, and this place came up. There are lots of good reviews, so I slapped on a dress and headed out.” She pauses. “Oh God, did that sound as pathetic as I think it did?”

       Louis shakes his head. “I assure you it did not. I’m sure that if I didn’t work here, I’d be home watching a movie or reading a book or something of the sort.”

       She laughs again. “Well, aren’t you a party animal?”

       “Oh, you don’t even know.” He smirks.

       Michelle stands up and drowns the shot. “Well, I’m off to mingle.”

       “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

       She snorts. “Sure.” She smiles before turning away from the bar and disappearing into the crowd.

       Zayn watches this exchange from a few feet away, so he when he appears in the very spot where Michelle was only a moment ago, Louis raises a brow. “Slacking, are we?”

       “No, taking a break. I put on a ten-minute mix, so I have enough time to go to the loo and get a drink, but that’s beside the point,” he answers.

       “And what is the point?”

       “I saw you talking to Michelle.”

       “And?” Louis is genuinely confused as to where Zayn is going with this. So what if he was talking to Michelle? Big deal.

       “And?” Zayn repeats in disbelief. He runs his hands over his face. “What am I going to do with you?”

       “I honestly have no clue as to what you are going on about, so,” Louis pauses as he reaches under the bar and pulls out a bottle of water. “Drink this because you are obviously dehydrated.”

       He checks the time on his watch and sees that he has about a little over a minute before the mix ends. “We’ll finish this later,” Zayn states before grabbing the bottle and leaving.

~

       In an effort to bring the two people who mean the most to him together, Louis does everything he possibly can to make Harry and Zayn talk. He just knows that if they have one good conversation, they will be as good as friends as Louis is to them and that’s all he really wants.

       Louis will purposely mention things that Harry likes to Zayn and then slowly move the conversation out of the bathroom and to wherever Harry is in the house. This should have worked, but Harry always finds some excuse to leave the room and disappear from their sight. Louis does not give up, however, because he is determined to get these guys to talk.

       The walls of the bathroom have been painted a color that is somewhere between an off-white and a very, very light brown. The original plan was just to change the tile, but once things started, Louis decided to change everything. He might as well, right? It is halfway through the second week of the remodel and Louis is so excited to be so close to finishing everything.

       “I just can’t believe it, Haz,” Louis begins. “It’s just looking so great and we only have to do a few more things and then, just like that, everything will be done.”

       “It’s great, really. I’m glad that you’re happy with it,” Harry says. It seems a little silly to him that Louis is practically changing the whole bathroom just because he didn’t like the tile, but it is his house, so it’s not like Harry can really say anything. In fact, Harry didn’t mind the tile at all; there was nothing wrong with it to him.

       Louis throws the duvet over his legs and sinks into his pillows. “Yeah and it’s really great that Zayn has been helping me out with this. He’s a really good mate.” Harry doesn’t say anything in response to that, so Louis turns his head to the side to look at him. It takes him no time to see that Harry is tense. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks, concerned.

       “Nothing.” Harry lets out a breath. He doesn’t want to say anything because he doesn’t want to mess up Louis’ friendship with Zayn; it is obvious that Louis is grateful to have Zayn in his life and Harry doesn’t want to cause them to not be friends . . . again.

       “No, it’s something,” Louis presses. “You know you can tell me anything, right? I’m always here to listen and help in whatever way I can.”

       “I know,” Harry says, looking straight ahead and avoiding Louis’ stare.

       “Then tell me what’s wrong. It’s okay, I promise.”

       He takes a deep breath. Louis said it’s okay. It will be okay. It has to be. “For a while now, Zayn has been,” Harry pauses. “He’s been . . .” He sighs. Damn it Harry, just tell him. “Whenever you aren’t around or can’t hear, Zayn always says something mean to me or gives me a mean look and I get that he hates me, but I just . . .” He slumps his shoulders in defeat. “I don’t know what I did.”

       Louis studies the boy next to him and he sees how hurt he is. “I can’t believe this.”

       “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

       “No,” he shakes his head. “Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anyone is sorry, it’s Zayn. He shouldn’t have said anything like that to you and I’m gonna have a talk with him.”

       “No, really, you don’t have to do that,” Harry says, daring to turn his head to look at Louis for the first time in the conversation. “It’s no big deal.”

       “Harry,” Louis says, placing his hand over Harry’s. “You are shit at lying, so just quit it. It is a big deal and it’s not right.” He squeezes his hand. “I’m gonna put a stop to it. You don’t deserve that.”

       The next day as Louis and Zayn are putting down the new, pretty tile, Louis decides to bring up the way Zayn is being towards Harry.

       “Hey, can I ask you something?” Louis begins.

       “Sure.”

       “What gives you the right to treat Harry like shit in my house?” Being blunt is the best approach Louis came up with.

       Zayn places the tile down the floor before looking up to meet Louis’ gaze. “Excuse me?”

       “He told me,” Louis says as he stands up from the ground. “He told me you’ve been calling him names and giving him looks. What is that about, huh? Why are you being such an arsehole?”

       “What?” Zayn scoffs. “I’m not being an arsehole,” he says as he gets up to his feet.

       “Oh, no?” He raises a brow. “What happened to, I’m going to stop giving you shit about it, huh?” Louis asks, quoting what Zayn had said a couple of weeks ago. “I thought you were done.”

       “I am done,” he retorts.

       “So, what? Harry’s lying to me? Is that it, Zayn?”

       “You can’t believe everything he says.”

       “Oh, so you are saying he lied.” Louis scoffs. “He is my husband for God’s sake, Zayn! I love him and you need to respect that whether you like it or not.”

       Zayn rolls his eyes. “That’s bullshit. Just last week, I saw you flirting with Michelle, so if you love Harry so much, explain that.”

       “It wasn’t flirting, you twat. It’s called being friendly!” he rebuttals. “You should try it sometime.”

       “Look, I said I was done giving you shit and I am. Can we get back to work now?” Zayn doesn’t wait for a reply; he just sinks back down to the ground and begins placing a new row of tile down. He had said he would stop giving Louis shit about the whole situation, not that he wasn’t going to make sure Louis sees that he deserves so much better. It is his job as the best friend to see that he ends up with someone better, like Michelle. Zayn wants Harry gone for good and he might just know the perfect way to get rid of him.

~

       Louis screws in the last light bulb before descending the ladder. This is it. Two weeks of work and finally, the bathroom is finished. The room looks great and Louis is proud to say that he actually took part in this and he did a good job. It’s amazing to think that just two weeks ago, this room looked completely different and now, after lots of hard work, it’s perfect. Louis and Zayn have been working the most of the past seven hours on this Thursday to get every single last thing done, so they can bring this project to a close. The walls are painted, the tiles are set, the new curtains are up, the towels are hung, the lights are lit, and everything is where it should be.

       Zayn flips the light switch, making the entire room radiate with life. “I believe we are finished.”

       “It looks that way,” Louis agrees. “I can’t believe it turned out so well.” He does a slow three-sixty to take it all in. When he is facing Zayn, he says, “Thank you for helping me. I really mean that.”

       He shrugs nonchalantly. “What are friends for?”

       That’s it right there. They are friends and even if they don’t completely agree on everything, here they are, working together to get a task done. Louis smiles. Yes, they are friends and yes, Louis still wants Harry and Zayn to be friends. “We are,” he agrees simply. Louis sticks his head out of the door and shouts, “Harry! Get your arse up here!”

       It doesn’t take long before Harry comes up the room with a confused expression. “Did something break?”

       “Oh, no,” Louis says. “I just want to show you the finished product, seeeeeeee?” He moves out of the door frame, so Harry can come in the bathroom and look.

       “Wow, this is absolutely amazing.”

       “Isn’t it?” Louis places his arm around Harry’s shoulder. It looks a bit awkward since Harry is a few inches taller than Louis, but he doesn’t care. Zayn coughs from behind them and without moving his arm, Louis turns around. “We should celebrate,” he states.

       “Celebrate?” Zayn raises his brow.

       “Yes, celebrate,” Louis answers. “Now come along you two.” The eldest of the group leads the boys downstairs to the kitchen. He goes straight towards the cabinet where he keeps all his liquor. Louis moves a few bottles around to find what he is looking for, but it is nowhere to be found. “Shit,” he mutters.

       “What’s wrong?” Harry asks.

       “We don’t have any champagne.”

       “I . . . I could go get some,” he offers. Harry subtly takes a step away from Zayn and closer to the doorway in hopes of leaving this room and going out to the store.

       Louis shakes his head. “Nonsense. I’ll go get it.” He slips past the two and leaves without another word. Maybe they’ll become the friends Louis knows they can be if he just leaves for a little bit.

       After Louis leaves, Harry takes the opportunity to get away from Zayn, so he backs away and walks down the hall to the living room. Unfortunately, Zayn follows him and asks, “Where d’you think you’re going?” There is something about his tone that makes Harry feel uncomfortable.

       “To be honest, to get away from you.”

       Zayn barks out in laughter. “Wow, the whore knows honesty.” There is way more sarcasm in his voice than is necessary. Harry tries to leave the room, but Zayn grabs his arm and stops him. Harry struggles to get out of Zayn’s grasp and when he finally does, he places his hand over where Zayn had held him, knowing that there will be a bruise there tomorrow.

       Harry doesn’t understand why Zayn won’t let him leave. This has to be the most he has every spoke to the curly-haired boy and it just doesn’t make sense. Harry tries to leave again, but Zayn is blocking his way. “What?”

       “I’ll tell you what,” Zayn spats. “You will always be worthless trash, y’know that? You will never be worth anything and you sure as hell will never be good enough, not for Louis, not for anyone. Did you know that Louis loves kids and he is excited to have them someday, but you couldn’t give that to him, can you?”

       “Stop,” Harry says, but it comes out so soft that Zayn ignores it.

       “And do you know who can give Louis everything he wants? Michelle. Yeah, a girl who really likes Louis and guess what?” Zayn pauses for a moment. “He likes her, too.”

       “Stop,” he says louder this time. “Just shut up.”

       “No!” Zayn cuts off the space between them. He grabs Harry’s hand and places it over his own member. “This is all you want, isn’t it?” Harry tries to get his hand free, but Zayn has a real strong grip on him. “Oh wait,” he grabs his wallet from his back pocket and takes out all the bills he has. “Every whore needs to get paid, right?” Zayn throws the money at Harry and the bills go flying everywhere. “There.”

       “Why are you doing this?” Harry asks. His voice is strained and he’s confused and he just wants to get the hell out of there. “Just let me go.”

       Zayn moves their hands away and knocks his hips into Harry’s. He is there to prove a point and he’s not going to stop until the point is made.

At first, Harry is still fighting Zayn. He doesn’t want this. He doesn’t understand why Zayn is doing this. But the more Zayn pushed, the more Harry stopped thinking. It’s a sudden change to his behaviour--Harry goes from resisting to falling back to his old mindset and just letting it happen. Any move he makes is made without a thought and without a word exchanged between them. However, right at the end, Zayn says three words that snap Harry back to reality.

“You fucking whore,” Zayn spits.

       “Oh, my God.” Harry’s eyes go wide in realization of what he just did. Before, he never cared who he hurt by having sex because it was what he did and that was all to it. Now, he has never felt so sick with regret before. All Harry can think about it how hurt and disappointed in him Louis will be and he hates himself. Oh God, he hates himself. Zayn kept calling him a whore, and he just couldn’t take it anymore because he knows it’s true. He is a whore.

       The hatred Zayn has for Harry just escalated greatly. As he is putting his clothes back on, Zayn says, “I can’t believe Louis puts up with this shit. You are a whore, plain and simple and you just fucking proved it. I hope you’re proud of yourself.” He grabs his keys that fell out of pocket. “Once a whore, always a whore. Louis deserves so much better. You should just leave. It would really be for the best.” And with that, Zayn leaves Harry and goes out to his car, driving away.

       In shame, Harry covers himself and lets all the tears that have been building up from Zayn’s words fall from his eyes. Everything Zayn had said is true and part of Harry hopes that Louis will finally be mad at him, maybe even divorce him. Harry honestly and truly wants Louis to have the best and he knows that he isn’t it. Louis really could do so much better than him. He really deserves better. And what sucks most of all is not the final realization that Louis deserves better; it’s that Harry is completely in love with Louis.

       Louis comes home about a half hour later, wishing he never tried to go to the store during rush hour, but of course, he wasn’t thinking rationally; he just wanted to celebrate. As he walks past the living room, he finds Harry curled up in the fetal position on the carpeted floor. Louis places the bags on the ground before advancing towards his husband. “Harry,” he touches the younger boy’s arm gently. “What’s wrong, love?”

       Harry curls closer into himself because there is no way he can face Louis after this. Louis will be so hurt and Harry doesn’t want him to be upset, but he knows he has to tell him. He just wants to disappear, but Louis keeps rubbing his arm and he has to tell him. Whatever Louis throws at him, physically or with words, Harry will take it. He deserves all the hate after what he did.

       Louis tries to get Harry to sit up, and when he is successful, he sees his tear stained cheeks. “Oh babe, what happened?” He wipes the tears from under Harry’s eyes.

       The younger boy looks at Louis through his watery eyes and sniffles. He has to tell him. “Me and Zayn . . . We . . .” He takes a shaky breath. “We,” Harry closes his eyes because he doesn’t want to see the hurt on Louis’ face after he tells him, “had s-sex.”

       “What?” Louis drops his hand from Harry’s face and that small move makes Harry feel even worse, but he knows he deserves it; he deserves all of it.

       Harry makes the decision that is all for the better if Louis just finally pushes him away, so he tells him every painful detail of what went down. He tries to keep his voice from shaking and his tears from falling, but there are times when Harry can’t help it. He just sits there, across from the man that he loves and tells him the most regretful action he’s done in his life.

       Louis knows what Harry is doing because he knows how Harry works. When Harry wraps up what he’s saying, Louis leans forward and kisses him. “Stop apologizing. Stop crying. Stop saying it’s your fault.”

       “But it is my fault. I’m sorry.”

       “No,” Louis shakes his head. “Please, Harry, stop blaming yourself. You don’t need to tear yourself up about this. I’m not mad at you, I promise. I love you will all of my heart.”

       His words make Harry truly see that Louis is too good for him. After all that he has done, Harry doesn’t deserve someone like Louis and he knows what he has to do so everyone gets what they deserve.

       Louis takes Harry upstairs to their bedroom. He comforts the younger boy and continuously tells him that he’s not angry at him and that he forgives him and that it’s okay. Harry doesn’t believe Louis, so Louis puts up his greatest rebuttal by kissing Harry. The kissing heats up and when their lips separate, so both boys can get some air to their lungs, Harry says, “I love you,” for the first time ever. Louis tries to go further with Harry, but Harry stops him. For the most part of the make-out session, Harry has been letting Louis take control and as nice he knows it would be, he can’t take that from Louis after what he did.

       The two boys wrap their bodies around each other and it doesn’t take long for Louis to doze off. Harry, on the other hand, still feels too guilty to let himself fall into a slumber. For the entire night, he stays up and with everything that’s happened in his life floating around in his head—his parents death, his uncle abusing him, his prostitution days, his marriage to Louis, his stupidity—Harry chooses what he has to do.

       Right before sunrise, Harry carefully untangles himself from Louis without waking him and gets out of bed. He pulls the one bag he came with a few months ago out from under the bed and throws in all of the original items he had. Harry zips up the bag and slips on his shoes. I have to do this, he tells himself before leaning over Louis’ sleeping frame and gently kisses his lips. Harry takes one last look at Louis before grabbing the frame that has his parents’ photo in it and leaving for the last time ever.

 


	15. 15

       The moment Louis feels like he is falling off of his bed, his eyes open wide and his heart races. He sits up and exhales, letting his heart go back to a normal rhythm. He turns his head to the right and that’s when he sees that he’s alone in bed. Louis doesn’t think much of it—Harry’s probably downstairs making breakfast or something—and slowly rolls out of bed.

       After his morning ritual, well afternoon considering it is an hour past midday, Louis descends the staircase and goes into the kitchen. He is expecting Harry to be behind the stove or sitting at the table, but when he gets there, he’s alone. Louis scratches his head as he backs out of the kitchen and walks down the hallway to the living room only to find that once again, he is alone.

       “Harry!” he calls out. There is nothing but silence. “Harry!” Louis tries again, leaving the living room and walking through the house. “Harry, this isn’t funny!” Louis keeps his calm as he searches for Harry in every single room in the house and ten minutes later when Harry is nowhere to be seen, reality sinks in.

       Louis runs back upstairs and changes out of his night clothes before grabbing his phone, wallet, and keys and leaving. As he is backing out of his driveway, he dials Harry’s number, but it just rings and rings with no answer. Louis’ heart sinks in his stomach. He can’t be gone. He just can’t be.

       For the remainder of the day, Louis goes anywhere he can possibly think of that Harry could be. He wanders around the park and searches down every aisle in the market and makes a round through the mall, but anywhere he goes, Harry is not there. Louis tries his best to describe Harry, but there’s only so much he can say before the words beautiful or gorgeous or perfect slip from his tongue. From his description, it seems as if not one person has seen Harry and Louis refuses to believe that he just disappeared off of the face of the earth.

       He gets back into his car and dials Harry number for the hundredth time that day, and this time, instead of it ringing and ringing, it goes straight to voicemail. Louis doesn’t know what to think of this, so he calls again and gets the same result. He runs a hand through his hair and takes a breath before he pulls out of the car park for the mall and heads to the next place.

       Upon walking into the platform, Louis waits in a line, impatient as ever until he reaches the front. He asks the workers if any of them have seen a curly-haired guy who, if not already, is about six foot with big, green eyes. All three workers shake their heads and Louis drops his head in defeat. The train station is the last place Louis wanted to go look for Harry because he really, really doesn’t want to believe that he is gone.

       As Louis stalks out of the platform, his stomach growls at him in such anger that Louis remembers that he hasn’t eaten anything the entire day and the sun is practically gone from the sky. He walks to the closest food place which happens to be Subway and orders himself a sub. Louis eats his sandwich with speed like he is in the finals of a food-eating contest because he needs to get back out there and find Harry.

       For the next three hours, Louis drives through the streets of London in hopes of spotting his husband somewhere. A million questions go through his head as he is driving: Where did Harry go? Why did he leave? Why didn’t he believe me when I told him it wasn’t his fault? Did I do something that drove him away? Why didn’t I hold on to him tighter? What if he went back to prostituting? Louis shakes his head at the last one. Harry wouldn’t do that again, would he?

       A half past nine, Louis gets a phone call from Ed. He almost doesn’t answer it, but he does. “Hello?”

       “Louis, mate, where the hell are you? We open in less than an hour.”

       Louis glances at the time on his dash and facepalms. “Shit, I didn’t realize what time it is. I’ll be there soon.”

       “Is everything alright?” Ed asks.

       “Not exactly,” Louis answers. “Tell me this, is Harry at the club?”

       “No,” Ed pauses. “Should he be? Did something happen to him?”

       Shit, well, there goes that idea. “I dunno. Look, I’ll be there soon, I promise. Sorry for being late.”

       “It’s no problem, mate. You know I always have your back.”

       Louis smiles for the first time that day. “Good to know.” And with that, he ends the call and rushes home. As soon as he steps through the threshold, he calls out Harry’s name in hopes that he came back in the time Louis was searching. For all Louis knows, he panicked for no reason and Harry is knocked out on the couch after watching a few episodes of One Tree Hill.

       Full of desperation, Louis goes through every room in the house just like he did earlier that day. When he walks into the living room, it’s just how he left it hours ago and Louis can’t help but frown. He walks over to the back wall where all of the pictures are hanging and immediately, Louis senses something off. His blue eyes scan the rows of photos and right when he gets to the center, he finds what’s throwing everything off—instead of the picture of Harry and Louis, it’s the picture of Harry’s parents. He knows how much this picture meant to Harry and it makes Louis’ stomach twist to know that it’s here and Harry’s not.

Louis retreats upstairs to his bedroom after that. He quickly changes into a black button-up shirt and black trousers and makes sure he doesn’t look like he’s been running around town all day. Once Louis looks presentable, he grabs his coat and heads out to the Red Wave.

       Right when he walks in, Louis sees Zayn standing off to the side of the bar, talking to Stan. With the rage of the entire situation, Louis marches right up to Zayn, pulls his fist back and collides it with his nose.

       “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Zayn clutches his nose with his hands.

       “Wrong with me? No, Zayn, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Louis shouts. “You were my best friend and I trusted you and then you pull this shit? What kind of person does that?” Louis is filled with anger, so he punches Zayn again, this time in the jaw.

       Zayn can feel the warmth of his blood slipping into his mouth, but he ignores it. “All I did was show you the fucking whore that you married. You do realize that he’s never gonna change, right? He’s always gonna be a whore and you don’t need that.”

       “That’s bullshit! What I don’t need is you! Get the fuck out of my club,” Louis orders.

       “Are you firing me?”

       “Hell to the fuck yes, I am firing you,” Louis replies in a voice that’s belittling Zayn. “You are not welcome here, my house, anywhere around me.”

       One of the security guards rushes over. “What’s going on here?”

       “Will you do me a favor and escort Zayn out? Make sure whoever’s at the front places him on the banned list,” Louis requests to the bodyguard.

       “Are you sure?”

       “Are you fucking serious?” Zayn asks.

       “Yes,” Louis says simply, answering both questions. The bodyguard places a hold on Zayn’s arm and leads him out of the club.  He turns around to find a stunned Stan and Ed looking at him with hesitant eyes. “What?”

       “What the hell just happened?” Stan asks.

       Ed hands Louis an ice pack from behind the bar. Louis gladly accepts it and places it over his aching knuckles. “Zayn just proved to me who he really is and I don’t want that kind of person around me or my club.”

       “What did he do?”

       Louis glances down at the icepack and takes a breath. “He made Harry believe that he didn’t belong here.” It’s silent for a good minute before Louis looks up and at Ed. “D’you mind being the DJ temporarily?”

       Ed nods. “Yeah, mate, no problem.”

       “And Stan, you okay with being a full-time bartender for the time being?”

       “Perfectly fine,” he replies.

       “Now if no one has any more questions, let’s finish setting up before the doors open,” Louis states as he walks behind the bar and busies himself. Ed and Stan exchange a concerned look, but let it drop as they prepare for the night.

 

ONE MONTH GONE: DECEMBER

 

       Louis drags himself out of bed in the early hours of the morning for one reason and one reason only: he’s taking a trip home. Last week after he spoke to his mum, Louis decided to close the Red Wave for the last week of December and reopen after New Year’s.

       He walks in his parents’ house the day before his twenty-fourth birthday and he is immediately attacked by the twins. “You two act as if you haven’t seen me in decades,” he says, hugging his little sisters.

       “It has been decades.”

       “Lots and lots of decades.”

       Louis chuckles. “Well, I’m here now and that’s all that matters.” He stands up straight and takes in how big the twins have gotten since the last time he was there.

       As the entire Tomlinson clan gathers around the table for lunch, the first topic of conversation is where Harry is. Louis freezes the moment the curly-haired boy’s name is mentioned and thankfully, as always, his mother swoops in and saves him. She tells the family that Harry simply couldn’t make it and just like that, everyone moves on to something else. Louis mouths thank you to Jay and she nods in response.

       That evening, Louis’ father takes the girls out to the ice rink leaving Louis and Jay to have some quality time together. She takes a sip of her tea. “Are you going to tell me what happened or are you going to continue beating around the bush?”

       Louis sighs. He places his cup on the table and pulls his legs up on the couch. “Harry left, there’s not much more to say.”

       “Yes, there is, but you’re just not saying it,” she counters. “I’m your mum and I know it’s bothering you, so just tell me. I don’t care that you’re hours away from turning twenty-four, you’ll always be my baby.”

       She has a good point. “Everything was finally going so well, Mum. Harry and I were finally good, like an actual couple and it felt so good to actually have that, y’know?” Jay nods, encouraging Louis to go on. “And then, I thought Zayn and I were on good terms again, but then he goes and he—” He takes a deep breath.

       Jay moves over and wraps her arms around her son. “It’s alright, you can say it.”

       “He did the most unforgivable thing he could have possibly ever done,” Louis says after a couple minutes. “The ultimate betrayal and because of it, Harry’s gone and no matter how many times I call, he never picks up. I have no idea where he is and I just… I miss him.”

       “I know, baby, I know.” She kisses the top of his head and rubs his arm. “What Zayn did is inexcusable, but it doesn’t mean that Harry won’t come back. I’m sure that in the time he’s spent with you, you’ve shown him a million different ways just how much you love him. He knows it, I know he does, so don’t give up just yet, okay love?”

       Louis nods. “I wish I could just talk to him.”

       The next night, after Louis opens all of his birthday presents and heads to bed, he gets a phone call. The number is blocked, but since it’s his birthday, he picks up anyways. “Hello?” he says into the receiver. There is no response, so Louis says, “hello,” again. He’s met with silence, so he ends the call, turns out the lights, and goes to sleep.

  
  


THREE MONTHS GONE: FEBRUARY

 

       Ever see a couple that’s holding hands and being all cute? Did you want to throw sticks at them and make them go away because couples and being cute makes you want to throw up?

       Louis Tomlinson can answer yes to both of these questions.

       Ever since Harry left, Louis hasn’t been feeling the love in any way, shape, or form. He rolls his eyes at the sight of a happy couple and scowls when someone calls him on it. Louis is bitter and he’s not hiding it. In fact, this is the very reason why Louis is hosting a Fuck Valentine’s Day event at the Red Wave while all the other clubs have Valentine’s Day specials and whatnot.

       For this event, it is mandatory that anyone who comes must be wearing black; anyone wearing red or pink will not be allowed entrance. Ed has specific instructions to play any kind of music, but love songs because it defeats the purpose of the event. There is something different about the crowd in attendance this day, but Louis figures it’s because the club is filled with people who either are bitter, like him, or just don’t give a fuck.

       Stan takes a break when his side of the bar calms down. “I thought this would be more depressing, but it’s not all that bad.”

       “Thank you . . . I think,” Louis says before handing a rum and coke to Ed.

       “It is a bit morbid, though,” Ed inputs. He raises his glass, takes a sip, and leaves to go back to the DJ booth.

       Stan nods. “Ed’s right. This day is supposed to be about love and this is anything but that.”

       “That’s kinda the point, Stan.” Louis is annoyed. Why can’t Ed and Stan just leave him alone?

       He raises his hands in surrender. “I just don’t want you beating yourself up for something that happened months ago. Everyone moves on at different paces, so I’m not forcing you into anything, just think about it.”

       Louis nods. It’s been three months and it almost feels like Harry was never around in the first place. Like, it was just some strange dream that Louis had that he finally woke up from. It feels this way until Louis places his blue toothbrush next to Harry’s green one, or when he sees the clothes he bought for Harry hanging in the closet.

       It’s weird to have someone around for a few months, and then, just like that, they’re gone in some ways, and not in others.

 

SIX MONTHS GONE: MAY

 

       The weather is finally starting to get warmer and Louis is glad he can lose the coats and the scarves and the gloves. The warm weather means his mother will stop chastising him for not wearing socks and then yelling at him when he gets a little cold. The warm weather means he can regain the golden tone to his skin that so many people envy considering they live in London.

       With a spontaneous decision, Louis grabs his keys and takes off to the mall. His goal is get a few items of warmer clothing, but what he ends up with is unexpected. Louis goes from store to store and by the end of his adventure, he practically has an entire new wardrobe. He justifies this as him embracing the change and that since he’s twenty-four, he should have a more sophisticated wardrobe.

       On his drive back home, Louis pulls into the complex of the best hair salon in town. As he is entering the shop, his phone rings, and without looking at the caller I.D., he picks up, “Hello?”

       There is silence on the other end.

       Louis sighs before ending the call. Surprisingly, he does not have to wait at all before he is called to sit in one of the big, black chairs.

       “What can I do for you today?” the lady asks as she drapes a thin sheet around Louis and ties it around his neck.

       He looks around at all the photos of people around the shop until he finds one he likes. “I want that,” he points at the picture.

       She smiles. “That I can do.” The lady sprays Louis’ hair with water before picking up a comb and scissors.

       When he returns home, Louis pulls all of his striped shirts and colorful trousers off their hangers and throws them to the floor. He hangs his new clothes and takes a moment to look at who he used to be and who he is now. Every now and then, change is needed and Louis deems this change as a good thing.

 

SEVEN MONTHS GONE: JUNE

 

       Louis heads into work early to restock to the bar because if it doesn’t get done now, it won’t get done ever and he’ll have angry people down his throat all night. Although it’s almost been a year, Louis still finds it weird to be in a club during daylight hours because it has a completely different vibe to it in the daytime than night time. He’s not exactly sure how to explain it, but these days, Louis enjoys the calmness the club brings when it’s just him there. No matter what, the Red Wave is the one constant in his life that won’t let him down.

       Just as Louis places another empty crate on the ground, the front door opens and a strip of light shines in which makes him wonder who just came in. He scrunches his brow and he mentally goes through the list of people who might show up: Ed, Stan, maybe one of the bodyguards; however, the person who appears is not who Louis expects at all.

       “Hey,” Louis greets. “What brings you to the exciting before-hours of the Red Wave?”

       “Exciting, huh?” Michelle chuckles. “I swung by your house, but you weren’t there, so I figured you were here. Too stalkerish of me?”

       “Not in the slightest,” he answers. Honestly, if he’s not home, he’s here and if he’s not here, he’s at home. Louis leads a boring life and everyone knows it. “I’m assuming you were looking for me for a reason?” he questions.

       She nods. “Actually, yeah. Do you ever rent this place out for private events?”

       “I haven’t since no one’s ever asked me before and I wouldn’t know what to do if they did ask me. Why?” Louis cocks his brow to the side.

       “Well,” Michelle starts as he slides onto one of the stools in front of the bar. “I was hoping I could have my reception here.”

       “What kind of reception?”

       “The wedding kind.”

       “I—” Louis really doesn’t know what to say. He’s still not a fan of happy couples and he doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle all of the love that comes with a wedding. It will be too much and only remind him for God knows how many hours at how much his love life went to shit.

       Michelle senses Louis’ hesitation. “You don’t have to say anything now. The wedding’s  not for another three months, but I just thought I’d ask. You don’t even have to say yes or anything. I won’t hold you to a neighbor obligation or anything.”

       A small smile appears on his lips. Michelle really is a good person and maybe, just maybe, Louis will put his own bitterness behind him for her. He almost laughs at the fact that Michelle is getting married because Zayn had pushed so hard for him to date her. Right when Louis open his mouth to tell Michelle his decision, the front door opens once again and the person who walks through makes Louis scowl. He looks straight at the intruder and very loudly, asks, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

       He ignores the question as he walks over and wraps an arm around Michelle. “Are you done here?”

       Louis takes in the sight of the two of them and he laughs humorlessly. “You’re getting married to him? You know what he did, right?”

       “Yeah, he told me everything,” Michelle answers.

       “And you’re marrying him?” Louis asks in disbelief. “Did he leave out the part where he fucked my husband?”

       “Louis—”

       “And how he basically made my husband believe that I didn’t love him?” He stresses my husband because that’s what Harry was, his husband.

       “Lou—”

       “No!” Louis is outraged. “How the hell did this even happen?”

       Michelle slides off the stool. “We ran into each one day and started talking and I don’t know, it just happened. Y’know the feeling you get when it’s just right? Yeah, well I got that with Zayn and I know it all seems so fast, but I really think—”

       “Stop,” Louis cuts her off.

       “God, Louis what the fuck is your problem?” Zayn speaks up for the first time since he walked in.

       “My problem is you.” Louis runs his hands over his face. “Just . . . leave. Both of you, just go. I have a lot to do before tonight and I just . . . I can’t do this right now. Please, just go.”

       Zayn and Michelle leave without another word, and once they are gone, Louis slides down to the floor and buries his head in his knees. Why is this my life, he asks himself.

 

EIGHT MONTHS GONE: JULY

 

       With a phone call to his mother (because if there’s one person who always knows what to do it is Jay Tomlinson), Louis makes a decision out of the kindness of his heart. Michelle is ecstatic when he tells her he’ll gladly let her have her wedding reception at the club and with that, she drags Louis into wedding planning hell.

       The doorbell sounds and Louis externally groans. Because Michelle will be using his space, she keeps asking him his opinion on how to set up the reception. Will this be too much? Do you think we could have an ice sculpture? Or, would it melt? How should the tables be set up? Would seating arrangements be a good idea?

       As Louis makes his way down the stairs, his phone rings and he figures it’s one of the many places Michelle has been talking to, so he picks up. “Hello?” There’s no response, so as he opens the front door for Michelle, he ends the call. “How’s my bride-to-be?” he asks her.

       “Grab your planner,” Michelle says, arms filled with magazines, books, and who knows what else. “We have some adjustments to make.”

       They walk into the kitchen and sit at the table. Louis places his planner in front of him and asks, “What adjustments?”

       “The tables will be ready to pick up the same day as always, but the chairs, oh the fucking chairs won’t be ready until two days after, as in the actual day of the wedding.”

       Louis picks up a pen and opens the planner to the current week. He is about to flip to September, but he notices the day’s date and he freezes.

       “Hey, you alright?” Michelle asks him.

       “Um . . .” He looks at the date again and he feels sadness all over. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I just . . .” Louis shakes his head. “What about the chairs?”

       Michelle goes on, but Louis barely listens. This day, one year ago, is where it all began and so much has changed since then.

       About a week later, the doorbell rings and Louis wants to cry. He really doesn’t want to listen to Michelle rant on and on about the wedding. He gets it, she’s excited and it’s a stressful process, but honestly, he could care less about all of the details. Louis opens the door, but it’s not Michelle at the door; it’s a guy in a white dress shirt and black slacks holding a bouquet of yellow roses. The guy hands the flowers to Louis and then leaves. Confused, Louis closes the door and plucks the note out of the bouquet. I’m sorry, it reads.

       For the next twenty minutes in two minute intervals, the doorbell keeps ringing and every time, the same guy appears with another bouquet of yellow roses and a note.

       Second time: I know what I did was wrong.

       Third time: I understand why you’re mad.

       Fourth time: Thanks for letting Michelle have the reception at the club.

       Fifth time: I’m really sorry.

       Sixth time: I never meant to hurt you.

       Seventh time: I just want the best for you.

       Eighth time: I understand if you hate me.

       Ninth time: I’m really, really sorry.

       Tenth time: I don’t know what else to say other than sorry.

       Louis is annoyed by the sixth time the doorbell rings, but he answers the door anyways. He is standing in a mess of dozens of roses and he knows who sent them. The doorbell rings for the eleventh time and Louis mutters a, “For God’s sake,” before answering the door.

       The guy who has been delivering him the flowers hands him a single card before turning away and leaving. Louis almost feels bad for the guy, but then he really doesn’t. He opens the card and it reads, I can’t do this without you, please be my best man. Louis closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. God damn it, he says to himself.

 

TEN MONTHS GONE: SEPTEMBER

 

       Louis stands up, fixing the jacket of his tux before tapping his spoon to his champagne glass to get everyone’s attention. When everyone is quiet and all eyes are on him, Louis takes a breath. It’s now or never.

       “My job today is to embarrass this man right here in front of all of his friends and family and that is exactly what I plan to do,” Louis begins. “I’ve known Zayn for so many years now that I’ve lost track of how long it’s been and in these years, Zayn has done plenty of questionable things, but what tops the list is how he asked me to be his best man. Now, everyone knows Zayn’s a romantic at heart, so I asked Michelle how he asked her to marry him. We all know the story, he took her on a double decker around the city and blah, blah. Yes, it was cute and awww, right?” The crowd laughs and nods. “But what you all don’t know is that this bloke sent ten dozen roses to my house with a damn card to ask me to be his best man.” Louis turns to look at Zayn. “I’ve never felt so loved before in my life,” he says sarcastically, but in a friendly way.

       The crowd laughs again and Louis knows he’s doing well. He turns back to the crowd. “This speech should have been really hard to write, but it wasn’t. It was quite easy considering how well I know Zayn now that I think about it.” One guy to the left really laughs, so Louis points at him. “He knows what I’m talking about,” he says and it earns him lots of laughs. “For years now, I know I could always lean on Zayn when I need him. He’ll be the one to tell me to stop drinking so much, but then he’s the one who’s drinking so much.” More laughs.

“Zayn has always been the brother that I never had and even when it’s not the best or the right thing to do, we do whatever we can to have each other’s back. And now, I’m stepping down from that role and handing it over to Michelle. It’s crazy to think of how fast this all happened, but really, I couldn’t be happier for them. You guys make a great couple, Michelle, you’re beautiful. Zayn, you’re not all that bad and I wish you guys the best.” Louis raises his glass. “Cheers.” Everyone claps and there’s clinking of glasses all around.

       When Louis sits down, he finds Zayn’s eyes on him and when they meet, Zayn mouths, “Thank you” to him. Louis smiles in return, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He may have been the bigger person and agreed to be Zayn’s best man due to the history of their friendship, but Zayn will never be forgiven for what he did.

 

TWELVE MONTHS GONE: NOVEMBER

 

       “Delivery from Jay Tomlinson.”

       Louis looks at the delivery guy in front of him with an open mouth. “Can you hold on for a minute, please?” The guy nods and Louis walks a few meters away from him.

       He dials his mother’s number. “Hello,” she picks up.

       “Mum, why is there a piano at my doorstep?” Louis asks.

       “Just doing some Fall cleaning,” she answers. “Since you left, no one plays the piano and I have an idea for the room it was in since I’m redecorating and all, so I thought I’d send it over so you can play again.”

       Fall cleaning. Redecorating. Hmm… “That’s actually not a bad idea,” he tells his mum. “Thanks.”

       “I knew you’d love it.”

       He can hear the smile in her voice. “You always know everything, don’t you?”

       “Of course, I’m your mum!”

       Louis chuckles. “Well, I better get the piano situated. I’ll call you later.”

       “Okay love, bye.”

       He ends the call and leads the delivery men to wheel the piano to the den that is never used. Once they leave, Louis tries to figure out how to arrange this room now that it has a piano in it, but he ends up with a different idea instead.

       Two hours later, after a talk with a real estate agent, Louis is hammering a For Sale sign into his front lawn. It’s time to move on. It’s been time to move on. Harry’s not coming back and there’s no point for Louis to sit around and wait for him any longer. It’s time.

  
  



	16. 16

       He is ready is go—his bag is packed, his shoes are on his feet, and his money is in his pocket—but right as he is about to open the front door, he stops himself. His hand leaves the doorknob and he walks to the living room, heading straight to the back wall. With concentration, he examines all of the smiling faces in front of him and he wishes he could be that happy, but then he remembers his smiling face is on the wall and he had been happy.

       Slowly, but carefully, he slips the photo out of the frame and replaces it with the photo of his parents. This picture used to mean the world to him, but now, something completely different has that meaning. He places his hand over his parents’ picture before turning away and leaving the house he’s called home for such a short amount of time.

       The walk to the train station takes longer than he expected, but he’s made it to his destination, well the first step anyways. He buys a one-way ticket to the airport and luckily, the train is a couple minutes away from leaving when he gets there. He chooses his seat carefully, towards the back in hopes that he’ll go unnoticed, and sits by the window, staring out like it is the last time he’ll ever see any of it again.

       When he arrives at the airport, there is barely a line at the desk considering it is still pretty early in the day. The lady behind the desk smiles at him. “Good morning. How can I help you?”

       “I was hoping to be on standby to a flight to America,” he answers.

       She nods. “Where exactly in America?”

       He shrugs. “It doesn’t really matter. Just . . . America.”

       She eyes him suspiciously, but chooses not to say anything. To her, he doesn’t look to be all that home and part of her wonders if he’s running away from home. “Do you have your passport with you?”

       “I do.” He reaches into the front pocket of his bag—right when he packed it when he left David’s house—and hands it to the lady. If one thing David did right, it was getting Harry a passport at age twelve. Sure, Harry’s never used to it, but times like this one, it comes in handy.

       “Alright,” she says as he opens the flap and quickly does the math to calculate his age. “I can’t really help unless you tell me where you want to go. Give me a state and we’ll go from there.”

       Harry thinks for a moment before answering. “North Carolina.” He’s not sure why, but that’s the first state to pop into his head other than New York, but New York seems too crowded for him.

       The lady clicks through the computer in front of her and finds four flights all headed toward North Carolina. She prints them off and hands Harry all four boarding passes. “The times on these vary, but the planes will either leave from terminal eight or nine which are across from each other. Pay attention to the times and you should get called if there’s a seat available for you.”

       “Thank you,” he tells her before pocketing the boarding passes and his passport. The lady tells him the price of the ticket and he pays for, having enough for it and then some money left over for later.

       It is not until four hours later with the third flight that Harry and one other person gets a seat on a plane. He takes the window seat because one, he’s never been on a plane before, and two, he’s flipping going to America. About an hour into the flight, Harry feels his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second. He knew he would get tired eventually considering he didn’t sleep the night before, so he lets his eyes close and he leans back into the seat. Might as well sleep now because who knows when he’ll be able to again.

       Harry does not wake up until the plane has landed and a flight attendant is shaking him awake. He blinks a few times, adjusting to the light before getting up, grabbing his bag from the designated carry-on space and exists the plane. When he leaves through the sliding doors of the airport, Harry has no earthly idea where to go. He is in a new country where he doesn’t know a soul.

       As he adjusts the bag on his shoulder, a cab driver who is parked at the curb rolls down his window. “Hey kid, where you going?”

       Harry shrugs. “Anywhere really.”

       “Hop in,” the cab driver tells him. “I’m about to get off the clock and I can spare a ride.”

       He shakes his head. “ ‘s alright. I can walk.”

       The cab driver laughs. “I’m offering you a free ride, kid.”

       “Oh.” Harry’s face lights up at the realization. “Well . . . thanks.” He gets into the backseat of the car.

       “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

       “Yes, sir.”

       The cab driver laughs again. “I know exactly where to drop you off.” He turns forward, so he is facing the windshield and starts the car, making sure the meter is turned off. Throughout the car ride, Harry makes small talk with the cab driver. He answers all the cab driver’s questions on how it’s like to live in England and asked questions himself about what he can do in this state. The drive takes about twenty minutes and when the cab driver parallel parks in front of a coffee shop of some sort, he turns around towards Harry and announces, “This is the place.”

       Harry scrunches his brow in confusion, but nods anyways. “Thank you for the ride.”

       “No problem.” With another nod, Harry gets out of the car, and when he takes a step away from the cab, the driver rolls down the passenger side window and says, “You’re gonna be okay, kid.”

       “Thanks.” He smiles, adjusts his bag on his shoulder, and walks inside the coffee shop. The moment he is inside, a blanket of warm air hits him and instantly, Harry feels comfortable. He slowly makes his way through the shop, taking in the coffee smell, dimmed lights, small tables, large bookshelves, and earthy decorations.

       The top most thing on the eighteen-year-old’s mind is food, so Harry takes his place in the line to the counter; however, his attention moves away from the food and towards a bulletin board to his left. Right as he approaches the bulletin board, he smacks into a guy who is a few inches shorter than him and has two-toned hair.

       “Sorry,” Harry apologizes.

       “ ‘s alright, mate,” he responds. The two stare at each other for a moment or two, interpreting their accents, before the guy asks, “You’re English?”

       “Yeah,” Harry nods. “Irish?”

       “Yeah,” he smiles. “I’m Niall.” He extends his hand.

       Harry shakes it. “Harry.” Niall tacks on a bright blue piece of paper onto the bulletin board. Harry quickly skims the big, bold words and bites the inside of his cheek. “You’re looking for a roommate?”

       “Yeah, Liam and I have an extra room and we could always use the extra money,” Niall answers. “Wait,” he pauses and looks Harry over. Just in the one minute that he’s known Harry, he already likes him. “Not to freak you out, but d’you wanna see the place?”

       “Um . . .” Harry always thought the majority of people in America were mean, but so far, he keeps being proved wrong. “You don’t drive, like, a white van or anything, do you?”

       Niall laughs like Harry just told the funniest joke in the world. He clasps his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “You’re funny, Liam’ll love you.” And with that, he leads Harry out of the coffee shop and down four blocks to an apartment complex. “It’s nothing fancy,” Niall tells him as he unlocks the door.

       Right when Harry walks into the apartment, he is directly in the living room. There is a table for four a few feet away from the couch which Harry assumes is the dining room. Off to the left is the kitchen and to the right is a small hallway where the bedrooms are most likely. There are random items of clothing, books, papers, and who-knows-what else all around and it reminds Harry a bit of what Louis’ house looked like before Harry started cleaning.

       Harry’s jaw clenches. Niall sees this and asks, “Everything alright?” Harry nods and Niall throws his keys on the same table between the couch and the television. “Everything’s pretty self-explanatory here, so let’s move on.” He walks a few feet before pointing to the left. “Kitchen.” He turns to the right. “Makeshift dining room.” He walks through the entryway to the hallway. To his left, “My room,” to in front, “bathroom,” and to his right, “presumably your room.”

       Harry chuckles. “I don’t know about that,” he says as he walks into the room. Surprisingly, the room is furnished with a bed, a dresser, and a night stand. He can tell that it’s been lived in before, but there’s no actual belongings anywhere.

       “Nialler?” someone calls from the other room.

       “Over here!” Niall yells back. Moments later, a guy with a shaved head and brown eyes walks into the room. “Liam, this is Harry. Harry this is Liam.”

       “Hello,” Liam greets.

       “Hi.”

       Liam smiles. “Hey, you’re British!”

       Harry laughs. “It’s really not all that exciting.”

       “I like him,” Liam says, pointing towards Harry.

       “I knew it.” Niall grins.

 

LEFT FOR ONE MONTH: DECEMBER

 

       Harry adjusts to life in America rather easily thanks to Niall and Liam’s help. The two agreed that Harry could live in their spare room if he would work with Liam in Liam’s uncle’s music store, Sounds ’n Stuff . Harry accepted and even offered to keep the apartment clean which neither of the boys could refuse.

       On their way home from Sounds ’n Stuff, Liam compliments Harry on how he handled a customer. “You really did a good job,” Liam tells him. “Where did you say you worked before?”

       He gulps. Harry didn’t exactly tell Liam and his uncle what he used to do, and he feels like shit for lying, but he doesn’t really want them to know. That was his old life and Harry’s moved on from that. “I worked for my uncle, like you.”

       “You must have had to work with a lot of people because the way you calmed that lady down,” Liam shrugs, “I have no idea how you did it.”

       “You could say that.”

       Liam parks the car in the parking lot. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me and Niall to my parents’ house for Christmas Eve? I feel bad leaving you alone when everyone should be around family. And like, we could make a weekend out of it,” he offers. “I can show you all around Atlanta, like the CNN Center and the World Of Coke, oh and Centennial Olympic Park where they had the Olympics back in 1996.”

       “I’ll be okay,” Harry assures him. “And really, I’d just be intruding and that wouldn’t be right.”

       “You really wouldn’t. I mean, ever since Niall showed up for the first time four years ago, he’s expected to be there every year. My family loves everyone.”

       “Liam, it’s really okay. I’ll be fine.”

       He sighs. “Fine, but next year, you’re definitely going.”

       Harry chuckles. “Sounds like a plan.”

       That night, Liam and Niall pack up Liam’s car and take off to their trip down the coast to Georgia. Liam’s uncle is also on his way down, so Harry doesn’t have to work for the next couple of days and he really doesn’t know what to do with himself, so he goes to sleep. The following morning, he cleans the apartment, but it’s rather small so he finishes quickly. He organizes all of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen, but Niall and Liam don’t have many dishes and things to begin with. In defeat, Harry slumps down on the couch and turns on the television and begins to watch a Christmas movie marathon since it’s Christmas Eve and all.

       Another movie begins at eight o’clock at night and Harry leans back on the couch and places a cushion over his face. Every single movie he has watched are all basically the same thing and honestly, Harry does not have the Christmas spirit and these movies aren’t helping. He grabs the remote and mutes the television.

       Harry stands up and walks to the room that he’s been calling his own for a little over a month now. He picks up his mobile and without thinking, dials the first number on his speed dial. It rings a few times before the call is picked up. “Hello?” The voice is so familiar that Harry closes his eyes and soaks it in. “Hello?” The voice says again and Harry wants to say something, but his throat closes up and before he can even open his mouth, the call ends.

 

LEFT FOR FOUR MONTHS: MARCH

 

       Harry swallows two pain killers and hopes they will mend the headache he is still having from the weekend’s festivities. He knows Niall is Irish and loves his beer, but Harry has never experienced St. Patrick’s Day like he did this year. There was just so much booze and green, and Harry doesn’t even know what actually happened, but he doesn’t mind.

       As he changes out the music playing over the loudspeakers in Sounds ’n Stuff, Harry hears something coming from the back room. He hits play and wanders to the back of the store, letting the sound lead him to wherever it’s coming from. When Harry pulls the door open, he finds Niall sitting on a stool with a guitar in his lap, sheet music in front of him, and Liam to the side of the room.

       “You play?” Harry asks, pointing to the instrument

       “Yeah,” Niall answers. “Not a lot though because I’m not all that great.”

       “That’s bullshit,” Liam interjects.

       “Liam.” Niall says his name in a way like they’ve had this conversation many times and it always has the same output.

       “No.” Liam stands up and walks over to Harry. “Hear him play just for like, ten seconds and you’ll see how talented he is. Niall doesn’t believe me, but maybe he’ll believe you.”

       Harry nods. “I’ll be the judge of that. C’mon Nialler, play something.”

       Niall puffs out a breath of air and shoots Liam a glare. “Fine.” He begins strumming his guitar and just like Liam said, it only takes Harry ten seconds for his eyes to go wide and his mouth to drop.

       “Oh, my God, you’re brilliant,” Harry exclaims. “I wish I could play.”

       He stops playing midway through the song. “I can teach you if you want,” Niall offers.

       “Really?”

       “Yeah,” Niall nods.

       Harry smiles. He is glad that out of all the six million people residing in America, he ran into these two because it’s nice to actually have friends. It’s been such a long time since Harry had legitimate friends that he finally feels a bit less guilty about everything he left back in England.

 

LEFT FOR SIX MONTHS: MAY

 

       With nothing but a pair of shorts on, Harry walks into the living room. Niall takes one look at him and laughs. “Mate, your tan lines are horrible.”

       Harry glances at his arms and sees the distinct line from where his regular t-shirt covers his arms and where it doesn’t. He has gained a bit of a tan, but only on his arms and his face; everywhere else, Harry is still as white as porcelain. “Shut up,” he retorts as he takes a seat next to Niall on the couch.

       “You’re not in London anymore.”

       “I know. It’s so hot here. Like, I feel like I have to take three showers a day to stay cool,” Harry complains. “It’s ridiculous.”

       Niall chuckles. “You do realize that you’re in America, right? And towards the South as well? This is nothing compared to July and August. That’s when you get dehydrated from being outside for longer than two minutes.”

       Harry makes a face. “I’m never going to get used to this, am I?”

       “Of course you will,” he assures the younger boy. “You just need to invest in some more shorts and less in coats.”

       “Why are you two sitting around?” Liam asks as he walks in the room from his bedroom.

       “Because it’s bloody hot!” Harry replies.

       Liam takes the towel in his hands and hangs it around his neck. “And that is why I’m going for a swim. Anyone want to tag along?”

       Niall hops up. “Me. I totally forgot that they opened up the pool. Lemme go put on my trunks.” He disappears into the hallway.

       Harry stands up. “Me, too. I gotta fix this,” he says, pointing at his arms.

       Liam laughs. “Yeah, your arms are just awful.”

       He groans. “You guys are mean.”

       “But you love us!” Niall calls. “Now, let’s go.”

       When the three boys get to their apartment complex’s pool after a short walk, Liam and Niall strip off their shirts and jump in the water while Harry lays back on one of the chairs where there’s a lot of sun. Harry pats his pockets and comes to the conclusion that they are too heavy with things, so he begins to pull them out. His phone is the last item he pulls out and he sees that he has called someone. Harry looks a bit closer at the name and his eyes open wide in shock.

       He is about to end the call before anyone picks up, but Harry is not that lucky. He quickly moves the phone to his ear just in time to hear, “Hello?” Harry can’t bring himself to say anything once again, so the line goes dead after a short moment. Maybe he’s busy, Harry thinks. It’s been six months.

 

LEFT FOR EIGHT MONTHS: JULY

 

       Harry wakes up and he has a weird feeling in his chest. He doesn’t understand it, so he stays in bed and ponders on what it could be. There’s no way he’s getting sick because Harry usually catches a cold in the winter time and that’s about it. There’s no way he’s having a heart attack because he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to breathe if that were true. He can’t place his finger on why he has this feeling.

       He turns from laying on his side to lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. There has to be some reason for this because it is such an odd feeling that Harry is positive he would remember if he felt it before. There has to be some reason—

       And then he remembers.

       Harry grabs his mobile from his bedside table and holds it in his hand. Unlike the last two times, he will actually say something because today marks the one year anniversary of the day where it all started. Today is the day that Louis saved Harry. Today is the day when Harry will actually talk to Louis. Today is the day.

       It takes him about another half hour before he dials the number. The call rings and rings, and Harry is about to give up, thinking that Louis is probably taking a shower or is busy or doesn’t have his phone on him, but then, he picks up. “Hello?”

       He opens his mouth, ready to say something, anything back to Louis, but nothing comes out. Harry takes a breath and the moment he finally chokes out a hello, he hears something that makes his throat go dry again. Louis presses a button for what he thinks is the end call button, but it’s a button for one of the numbers. He says, “How’s my bride-to-be?” and Harry fumbles with his mobile to end the call himself.

       The feeling in his chest gets all the more uncomfortable and Harry wants to scream out in agony, but he can’t. His throat is closed and his chest is tight, and he can’t believe what he just heard. How’s my bride-to-be, my bride-to-be, my as in Louis’. Louis is going to get married. Louis has moved on. Louis is going to get everything he ever wanted. Louis is no longer Harry’s.

       And it’s all Harry’s fault.

 

LEFT FOR NINE MONTHS: AUGUST

 

       In the spirit of Liam’s birthday, Harry bakes a simple German chocolate cake. He plans to do something similar for Niall’s birthday in a couple weeks, but for right now, it’s Liam’s big day and it’s the least Harry can do in return for all Liam has done.

       Harry carefully holds the cake in his right hand and turns the knob to Niall and Liam’s room with is left. He figures Liam will forgive him for waking him up since he has cake and all, so Harry walks right in. “Happ—oh, my God!” On the bed, Niall has Liam pinned down, they are both without a shirt and there are lots of kisses. Harry covers his eyes and turns away. “I’m so sorry!” he shouts as he closes the door behind him.

       To be fair, in his time in this apartment, Harry has never once stepped foot into the other bedroom because he never had a need to. If he ever needed Niall or Liam, they were in the living room or kitchen, so he has never seen the inside of that room. Harry has wondered why the bedroom he lives in is fully furnished and why Niall has some of his clothes hanging in the back of the closet, but he never verbalized his wonder.

       Everything makes so much more sense now that Harry’s thinking about it. Niall is a carefree spirit while Liam is protective and responsible; Niall is silly while Liam is serious; Niall puts himself down while Liam pulls him back up. They are opposites and they work well together, and oh, my God, how has Harry not noticed it before? He has been living with them for over nine months and Harry had no idea. Maybe it’s because he’s been too wrapped up in his problems that Harry has been unable to see what has been right in his face.

       Then again, why hasn’t Niall or Liam, or even both of them, ever bought up the fact that they are together? Do they not trust Harry? Do they think that Harry would take offense because they’re dating? Do they think Harry is some homophobe who will condemn them to Hell?

       The couple emerges from their bedroom and finds Harry face down on the couch. They take a seat on the coffee table on either side of the cake that Harry placed there. “Harry?” Liam calls.

       “I’m so sorry,” Harry responds, his voice muffled from the couch cushions.

       “C’mon mate, sit up,” Niall says. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

       “Yeah,” Liam agrees. “If anyone has to apologize, it’s us.”

       Harry turns his head, so he can face them. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

       “Honestly, I kinda thought you already figured it out,” Liam answers.

       He thinks back to all the times where Liam and Niall seemed way closer than two friends are, and Harry closes his eyes. He never thought to question it because he never paid any mind to it. It seemed natural to him because that was the behavior Harry had gotten used to right before he came here. Harry turns his head back. He’s an idiot.

       “Oi! It’s not that bad, is it?” Niall asks.

       Harry sits up and shakes his head. “No, not at all. It’s great and I’m glad you two are together since you’re pretty much perfect for each other.” There is sadness in his words and both Liam and Niall catch it.

       “I’m glad you think so,” Liam smiles. “Now, how about we all have some breakfast? This cake looks amazing.”

       He shrugs. “No big deal, it is your birthday and all.” Harry chuckles. “I meant to surprise you, but you ended up surprising me!”

       Niall laughs and Liam shakes his head. “At least you know now to knock.”

       Harry nods. “Yeah, there’s no way I’ll be coming in there unannounced ever again.” He fakes a shudder. “Not a sight I want to see.”

       Niall hits Harry over the head with a pillow. “Oh whatever, you know you loved it.” And with that, he gets up to get a knife and plates for the cake.

       “I see why you love him,” Harry tells Liam.

       “I really do.” The smile on Liam’s face is so genuine and full of love that Harry forces himself not to drop into a frown. He could have had that with Louis, but nope, he had to go and be a whore and now, there’s nothing he can do about it. Louis’ getting married, or who knows, maybe Louis’ already married. It’s really weird to think how much can happen in such a short amount of time.

 

LEFT FOR TWELVE MONTHS: NOVEMBER

 

           Harry is forced out of bed by Liam. He knows Liam is an early riser on most days, but there is no need to wake Harry up on his day off. Harry lets out a yawn as he sits in a chair at the table. “Why on God’s earth am I awake right now?”

       “You are awake right now because you have been moping around for the past few months and I am sick of it,” Liam answers. “I don’t know why and really, you don’t have to tell me. Just do whatever you have to do to fix it because it hurts me, even Niall, to see you like this.”

       He sighs. “I have not been moping.”

       “Yes, you have,” Liam retorts. “Look, I’m not going to argue with you about this because it’s early and I know your senses aren’t all intact at the moment.”

       “Then, why’d you get me out of bed? We can have this conversation in about four hours, y’know.”

       Liam shakes his head. “Nope, we’re having it now. Today is your day off and you need to do something other than sit on your ass all day. Wilmington is just outside the door and you should go see it. Go to the mall or the pier or anywhere and have a cup of horrible American tea that you’re always complaining about. Go do something because whatever it is that you’re tearing yourself up about is completely ruining who you are. Either fix it or get over it.”

       Harry stares at Liam wide-eyed. Liam is always the one to keep Niall and Harry on track in a tough love way, but this is different. The words sink in as Liam turns around and walks away, leaving Harry to collect his thoughts and decide what to do. He finds a piece of paper and a pen and begins writing because Liam is right, Harry needs to get over this and since he can never get words to come out of his mouth, Harry will let his hand do all the talking. He needs to do this, so Harry can finally get past his mistakes once and for all.


	17. 17

       The weirdest thing about dreams is how real they seem to be. So much time can pass and one can encounter so many people and situations that it can be confusing once awake. In the dream, it seems like one is actually living and feeling and seeing and believing. However, these dreams are everything the subconscious is filled with – fears, worries, thoughts, and desires – and without knowing, one experiences all of these things in the hundred minutes of REM sleep each night.

       Dreams can be good and they can be bad, but either way, they happen even if one doesn’t remember it in the morning.

 

       Louis jolts awake in a sweat. The dream he was having meets every single requirement to classify it as a nightmare. The absolute worst possible scenario played out in Louis’ head and his fear of it actually happening is escalated. Louis snuggles deeper into his duvet, trying his best to feel warm, to feel safe.

       “What’s wrong?”

       The twenty-three year old opens his eyes and finds a pair of the most beautiful green eyes he’s ever seen. “I had a bad dream.”

       Harry wraps an arm around Louis protectively. “No worries, I’ll always protect you.”

       Louis smiles. “Good to know. Same goes to you, Harry. I’ll always have your back.”

       He returns the smile. “I’ve known that since I met you and we got married.”

       “That’s right. We are married, aren’t we?”

       “We are,” Harry responds. He kisses the top of Louis’ head. “What was your dream about anyways . . . or do you not remember?”

       “I wish I didn’t remember,” Louis admits.

       “Why? It couldn’t have been that bad, right?” Harry asks.

       Louis sighs. “It was the worst.” He pauses for a moment or two. “You left me without a word and I was just broken and alone.”

       Harry shakes his head. “That would never happen. I would never leave,” he assures his husband. “You’re here and I would never want to go anywhere without you.”

       “Promise?”

       “Promise.”

       “I love you, Haz.”

       He smiles. “I love you, Lou, with all of my heart.” Harry connects his lips with Louis’. “Now, go back to sleep. No more bad dreams for you, I promise.”

       “Mmkay.” Louis closes his eyes and lets himself fall into a blissful sleep.

       For what seems like a few hours, Louis wakes up once again, this time with no fear, but with a sense of emptiness. There is no one next to the twenty-four year old and the reason there is no fear is because the fear is real; Harry had truly left Louis about a year ago. He thought that after all these months, Louis would be over Harry leaving, but he’s not and he’s holding on even if he doesn’t want to.

~

       “D’you want to come with me somewhere?”

       Harry looks up to find Niall standing in his doorway. “Anywhere inparticular?”

       Niall nods. “Yeah, I kinda want a second opinion.”

       “Sure, I have to do something as well,” Harry says as he slides off of his bed. He pulls a navy blue hoodie over his head and slides on his shoes. “Let’s go,” he says as he pockets the letter he wrote a few days ago.

       As the two friends set off, they make their first stop after walking three blocks, so Harry can place his letter into the blue mailbox. “Who’s that for?” Niall asks.

       “Um . . . family f-from London,” he answers.

       “Oh, that’s nice for you to send them a letter to let them know you’re alive and well and living with the best people in the entire world.”

       Harry chuckles. “Something like that. Where are we going anyways?”

       “Ah,” Niall smirks. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

       “You’re a man of mystery, who knew?” He shrugs. They walk for another ten minutes before Niall leads Harry into a small store. Harry sees what the store sells and his eyes go wide. “No!”

       He grins. “Yes!” Niall pauses. “Well, kinda.”

       “What d’you mean kinda? We’re in a jewelry store, Niall!”

       “I mean, yes, I’m buying a ring, but technically, Liam and I have been engaged for years. This is just to show him that my love for him is never ending,” he answers. Liam is always doing nice things for Niall and he just really wants to tell him that he appreciates it. Niall has been thinking about buying Liam a ring for a long time now, and it just feels right at the moment.

       Harry can’t help the aww that falls out of his mouth. “That completely beats me sending a letter.”

       “You can buy a ring, too, y’know?” Niall suggests.

       “Yeah, I think I just might.”

       “Alright,” Niall slides his hands together. “Let’s get to looking.”

       The younger boy smiles at Niall’s excitement, but he can’t quite feel happy. The ring he purchases will be a symbol for someday. Just because things didn’t work out with Louis doesn’t mean Harry is going to give up all together; he still has hope that one day someone will love him like Louis did.

~

       Zayn takes a seat at the kitchen table as he begins to mindlessly go through his and Michelle’s mail. There are some bills, some junk, a catalog, and a few magazines. He skims each letter, not really paying attention to the words. He knows he should, but it all can wait for a different time. He gets to the very last letter in the stack and rips the envelope open, taking the piece of paper out. Zayn scans the words and it doesn’t take him long to realize that this letter is not meant for him or Michelle, but for his neighbor.

       Carefully tucking the letter into the inside pocket of his coat, Zayn sets off to the house next door; however, when he rings the doorbell, no one answers. He backtracks back to his house and hops in his car, heading towards the only other place he knows the intended recipient of the letter will be.

The moment he walks through the doors of his destination, he can hear music coming out of the loudspeakers and if he listens carefully, he can hear someone singing along.

           I’ve been sitting here

       Can’t get you off my mind

       I’ve tried my best to be a man and be strong

       I’ve drove myself insane

       Wishing I could touch your face

       But the truth remains

       You’re gone

       He watches Louis singing into a broom like it is a microphone on a stand with a mix of emotions covering his face. This song makes Zayn realize just how much Harry meant to Louis and even though it has been a year, Louis is still hurting like it happened yesterday. Zayn has never felt more guilty than he does at that moment for everything he did because he finally sees that Harry and Louis were supposed to be together and they were happy. Now, Louis is miserable and Harry is on the other side of the world and it is all of his fault. He needs to fix this.

       The song ends and Louis opens his eyes, ready to go back to his sweeping, but when he looks up, he sees Zayn standing by the entrance. “How much of that did you see?”

       “Pretty much all of it,” Zayn answers.

       “Oh.” Louis scratches the back of his neck. Shit. “So, uh, what’re you doing here?”

       He thinks about reaching into his pocket and giving Louis the letter because from the contents of the letter, there is no way Louis knows Harry is okay. They haven’t spoken to each other since the day it all happened, and it’s no wonder why Louis will never move on from Harry. “I .  .  .” Zayn closes his mouth. He doesn’t want to lie, but he doesn’t want to tell the truth, either. “Actually, two things. One, I just . . . I really want to tell you how sorry I am for last year.”

       “You’ve already apologized,” Louis says. He doesn’t want to relive it all again – waking up to no Harry after he finally said he loves him – because it just hurts too much.

       Zayn shakes his head. “No, listen. It was really wrong for me to do what I did and if I were you, I wouldn’t forgive me, either. I still can’t believe you agreed to be my best man after everything, but you’re just that good of a person. Louis, you are the best person I know and that is why I wanted you to have the best, but what I didn’t know a year ago is that you did have the best. I am so, so sorry and I wish I had my very own TARDIS, so I could go back in time and stop myself from being so stupid.”

       “Really Zayn, a Doctor Who reference? I thought you hated that show.”

       He sighs. “Is that all you got out of that?”

       “No,” Louis shakes his head. “You’re right, I haven’t forgiven you and I doubt I ever will. This past year has been the worst year of my life and I just can’t do this anymore.”

       “Is that why you’re selling your house and moving?” Zayn asks.

       “Yes. I need to move on and I can’t if I stay there. My life has been stuck for such a long time now that I just need to get away from it all,” Louis explains. “I need to make some changes and get on with my life because living like this is not lovely, like at all.”

       Zayn can clearly see how miserable and sad Louis is and he really needs to fix this, but he doesn’t know how to. “I know and I’m really sorry.”

       “Sorry’s not going to change anything, Zayn. Sorry is not going to make everything go back to how they were.” Louis pauses. “Sorry isn’t going to bring Harry back.”

       He nods. “I just . . . I’m sorry.” Zayn sighs. The two boys stand in the empty club, the only sound is the music playing from the loudspeakers. Louis’ right, sorry is not going to solve any of the problems and fix everything and Zayn knows that. Other than time travel, Zayn comes up with another idea that is pretty farfetched, but he is willing to try because he is to blame for this whole mess.

       The song changes again and Louis asks, “What else did you come here for? You said two things?”

       “Oh!” Zayn stuffs his hands in his pockets and traces the outline of the box of cigarettes he has in there. “I’m going out of a town for a few days and I was hoping you could keep an eye on Michelle just in case she needs something. She’ll probably never admit it that she gets lonely, but she does.”

       “Yeah,” Louis nods. “I’ll stop by. When are you going?”

       “Um, probably tomorrow if all works out as planned,” he answers.

       “Alright, yeah, I can do that.”

       “Thanks Louis, you truly are a good person.” And with that, Zayn takes a few steps backward until he turns around and walks out of the club.

       “But aren’t good things supposed to happen to good people?” Louis asks out loud even though he’s the only one around and knows no one will answer him.

       After he finishes cleaning up the Red Wave, Louis goes home to pack a few more boxes, take a shower, eat some food, and look up some potential houses. He turns on the television as he begins packing up his massive collection of movies and because he is too lazy to change the channel, he leaves it on the news.

       As he is taping shut the first box, the news segment gets interrupted by breaking news. Louis is barely paying attention to what is going on because if he’s honest, the television is only on for background noise to make him feel like he’s not as alone as he really is, but this news story catches his attention. A reporter is standing in front of what looks like an alleyway considering there is a dumpster behind her and trash bags everywhere.

       “ . . . is one of the most common places for homeless people to go and it’s never been a problem as long as no one gets violent. However, one of the younger ones, possibly eighteen or nineteen was found today just on the other side of the alleyway in a horrid state. The young person, a boy I believe, was found by a worker of the coffee shop behind me when he went to throw out the trash. The report has not been released that says what happened to the boy, but it is confirmed that he did die. This is Rebecca Matthews, reporting from just outside of London.”

       Louis is frozen. His eyes are wide open, but he’s not actually seeing anything. What if that was Harry? What if Harry had nowhere to go and ended up on the streets? What if that’s why Harry hasn’t called, texted, written, or anything? What if something bad happened to him?

       He gulps. The heavy weight in Louis’ chest gets heavier and he prays that Harry is safe somewhere and is alive because a dead Harry is infinitely worse than a Harry that left.

~

       On Tuesday, Louis gets a visitor. When the door is open, Louis is surprised to see who is standing there. It’s been such a long time that he’s seen him that he doesn’t know what to say.

       “Are you gonna invite me in or am I going to be forced to stand in the cold November weather?”

       Louis nods. “Right, sorry.” He steps aside and lets him in. “I just didn’t expect you to show up at my door.” He shuts the door and turns around. “So tell me, what brings you here?”

       Ed hands Louis a bottle of wine. “Here, have this.”

       He looks at the bottle and then back up at the ginger. “Oh dear, Ed’s given me alcohol which means he needs something. How much is this going to cost me?”

       “Nothing, actually,” Ed responds. “I think.”

       Louis laughs. “Come on, let’s sit.” He takes Ed into the kitchen and they both sit down at the table. “If it’s not going to cost me, then you’re chances of my help are looking good.”

       Ed lets out a nervous chuckle. “Hear me out before you say anything, please?”

       “Okay,” Louis says slowly. He narrows his eyes slightly, wondering what is it that Ed wants. His mind starts assuming things and the most preposterous thing he comes up with is that Harry has been staying with Ed this whole time and Ed hasn’t said anything. Wait, could that be it?

       He takes a breath. “I know this is really short notice and all, but my godparents have their ten year anniversary this weekend and they were planning on having this huge party on Friday, but the place they wanted were douches and cancelled their reservation and I was hoping they could have it at the Red Wave because they’re my godparents and I love them and they love each other and with all the shit they went through, I really want them to have it, but it’s okay if you say no, I’ll totally understand.”

       Louis wasn’t expecting that. “Wait, this Friday as in three days from today?”

       “Yes?” Ed’s answer comes as a question. “Like, I said, I know it’s short notice, but I was thinking we could get the tables and stuff from the same place that Michelle got them from for her reception.”

       “I . . .” Louis wants to say no because he really doesn’t want to be around happy, married people. He only had that happiness for such a short amount of time that is just doesn’t seem fair for him to have to see it all in his face. However, Louis is a good person; he always was and always will be. “Ed, I am only saying this because I know you wouldn’t be asking me this unless it was like, your last option, so,” he takes a breath, “yes.”

       “Yes?”

       “Yes.”

       “Oh, thank you so much, Louis!” Ed exclaims. “They’re gonna be so happy and I’ll work straight for the next three days to have everything together and so you’ll barely have to do anything.”

       In his head, Louis goes through who will do what for the party, which guards he can give the night off, who will work the bar, and everything else. It hits him that Ed won’t be able to DJ because it is his godparents’ party. He considers asking Zayn because Zayn really is a good DJ and this can be like a trial run for maybe giving him his job back. “Shit,” Louis mutters after he realizes something else.

       “What?”

       “I was thinking about who will be working what, and for the DJ, I was thinking about asking Zayn, but he’s out of town and you can’t DJ because you shouldn’t have to actually work at the party,” Louis explains.

       “Actually,” Ed says, “I played at their wedding and they asked me to play at the party, so that’s nothing to worry about.”

       “Oh.” Louis exhales. “That settles that.”

       In the next three days, a lot will have to be done and it will be a lot of work, but Ed will do the most of it and Louis will and help and everything will get done just in time. Michelle will convince the company to deliver the tables and chairs on the day together and with no problems, unlike her reception. Stan will take over the bar alone since it won’t be as big of a crowd as a usual open night at the club. Ed will make new invitations with the address to the Red Wave and send them out and set up a stage at the front of the club to perform on. Louis will make sure the club doesn’t look like a nightclub, but instead a nice, friendly ballroom for an anniversary party. It’s a lot to do, but it will get done.

~

       “Harry, get your ass out here now!”

       The younger boy opens the door to his bedroom and walks into the living room. “I’ve been summoned?”

       “You knew about this?” Liam asks, holding his left hand up which clearly shows the gold band around his fourth finger.

       Harry smiles sheepishly. “Maybe.” He looks over at Niall who is practically glowing. “So, I’m assuming everything went good?”

       “Yeah,” Niall nods. “Hell yeah.”

       He chuckles. “Good. The two of you are like, perfect.” Harry really means that.

       Liam smiles. “That’s nice of you to say, thanks.”

       Harry shrugs. “It’s the truth. So,” he smiles, “When’s the wedding?”

       Niall facepalms and Liam turns white. “W-we . . .”

       “Oh, my God!” Harry exclaims. “You two were gone for hours, don’t tell me you actually got married!”

       “Technically we didn’t,” Liam says. “Since it’s not legal in North Carolina, which is bullshit by the way, but kinda sorta.”

       His mouth drops. “And you didn’t invite me! I’m actually offended. I thought we were friends.”

       “We are, mate,” Niall says.

       Harry scoffs. “Doesn’t feel like it.” His tone is more mocking than hurt, so both boys know he is joking. “Either way, invited or not, I’m happy for you two and all that.”

       “Don’t worry, when we actually get married, legally at a church with our families and tuxes and everything, you’ll be invited without question. What we did today was just for us and really, it couldn’t have been more perfect.” Liam turns towards Niall and gives him a gentle kiss. “Thank you.”

       “I love you,” Niall responds.

       “I love you, too.”

       There is a knock at the door and both boys look away from each other and towards Harry. The younger boy rolls his eyes. “First, I’m not invited and now, you want me to get the door. Screw you two, you guys suck!” He walks past them to get to the front door. “After all I do for you, I cook, I clean, and this is how your treat me!”

       Both Niall and Liam laugh. “We love you,” they say together.

       “Yeah, yeah,” Harry says sarcastically before finally getting to the door and opening it. All jokes and amusement drops from his face and the pleasant mood he was in goes dark. He tries to shut the door, but the visitor stops him.

       “Don’t do that, please. I really need to talk to you.”

       “That’s too bad because I don’t have anything to say to you,” Harry says sternly and tries to shut the door again.

       Liam hears what Harry says and walks over to the door. “Who is it?” he asks, catching the door before it closes.

       “No one,” Harry answers.

       “Zayn,” he says at the same time as Harry.

       “Oh, are you a friend of Harry’s from England?” Liam asks after taking in Zayn’s accent.

       “No, he is not my friend. Liam, just let me close the door. We don’t need him here,” Harry tells him. He shoots Liam a glare to make him understand that he really doesn’t want Zayn here, but it doesn’t seem to be working.

       Zayn sighs, but he refuses to give up. “Look, I know you’re pissed, but you have to hear me out, please. If not for me, then for Louis.”

       Harry bites the inside of his cheek. There has to be a reason why Zayn is here, it’s not like it’s a short trip from London to Wilmington. “Fine,” Harry says after a minute. “But not here.”

       “Are you sure?” Liam asks quietly. He’s curious as to who Louis is and why Zayn is here and why Harry hates him so, but he keeps those questions to himself.

       He nods. “Yeah. You and Niall celebrate or whatever. I’ll be back later.” And with that, he steps forward, making Zayn walk back until he can easily walk without any obstacles. Zayn follows him until they reach the park at the end of the street. Abruptly, Harry turns around to face Zayn and asks, “Why are you here?”

       Zayn takes the letter out of his coat pocket and hands it to Harry. “That’s why.”

       Harry automatically knows that’s the letter he sent. “Why do you have that? Did Louis give that to you?”

       “No,” Zayn answers. “Louis hasn’t even seen it.”

       He humorlessly laughs. “Wow, you’re still fucking things up, aren’t you? Is it your life goal to make us miserable or something?”

       Zayn ignores the question. “Harry, look, I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry. I should have never pressured you and I should have never done what I did. I know you’re angry, and I know you don’t want me here, but listen, okay?”

       He crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m listening.”

       “Louis has never been this down ever in all of the years that I’ve known him. When you left, it was horrible. The first thing he did after searching for you is punch the shit out of me, which really, he could have done worse,” Zayn begins. “This whole year, he’s been living, but he really hasn’t. His smile never reaches his eyes and I’m sure that he hasn’t been happy or anything. He misses you, even if he hasn’t admitted it and he’s about to break if he hasn’t already.”

       “But he’s married.”

       Zayn’s head jerks back at Harry’s statement. “No, he’s not.”

       “Then he’s engaged or whatever,” Harry shrugs. “I heard him say it.”

       “No, he’s not,” Zayn repeats. He raises his left hand. “I’m the one who got married, not Louis.”

       Harry swallows dry air. “Then w-why . . .” He doesn’t know what to say or what to ask or anything. For the past few months, Harry has been so sure that Louis has moved on and has the life that anyone would dream of. The letter he wrote said things like how Harry was glad for Louis and that he wishes him a good life and how he hopes Louis gets everything he deserves.

       Zayn exhales. “I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now, or even the past year. I should have never forced you to leave, because I had no right to. You do deserve Louis. You are good enough for him. You make him happy and that’s all that really should have mattered.” He really hopes Harry will take all of the retracts he is making because he needs Harry to forgive him just enough to fix everything.

       “Why are you telling me this?” Harry asks. “What difference will it make? It’s already been done and it’s too late to do anything about it.”

       “That’s where you’re wrong,” Zayn says. “It’s not too late. Not if you come with me. Please, let me fix this because God knows that if I don’t, the two of you will never be happy.”

       “Why should I?”

       “Because that letter you’re holding, Harry, is a goodbye and you don’t really mean that,” Zayn answers. “Now, will you come with me or not?”

~

       Friday night comes way too quickly and both Ed and Louis are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Just as the first guest walks in is when they finally finish everything. There are dishes and silverware on the tables with chairs all around. Stan is standing behind the bar with select bottles to pour for people. Ed has a CD playing until he goes up to play a few songs. Louis adjusts the lights a bit until it is perfect. Three days of hard work and finally, they can enjoy it.

       Once everyone arrives and the honorary couple is sitting in the midst of it all, Ed walks onto the stage with his guitar. “So, most of you were there when these two got hitched and it was a lovely ceremony, it was and I know it wasn’t the easiest road, but you guys made it. For the wedding reception, you two asked me to play for you and of course I said yes, like why wouldn’t I, right? So, before the actual day, I played a few songs and my love songs are a bit out of the norm. And really, if I’m honest, it’s only because I never really had a grasp on the concept of love until you guys came together.

       “Anyways, you didn’t really want those songs, which was fine. So, I set off to write one kick-ass love song to wow you. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me all that long and I ended up with the very song I played for you.” Ed smiles. “Today, we’re celebrating ten years, but really, it’s been so much longer than that. I am really proud to say that I know what true love is, that I’ve seen it because we all have, it’s right there in front of us.”

       Ed’s words are becoming too much for Louis, so he quietly slips away and to the toilets. He goes straight to the sinks and splashes water of his face just as Ed begins playing the first chords of the song. Louis tries to pull himself together, but all he wants to do is crawl into the corner and cry. Why is this how everything turned out for him? He was just trying to do the right thing. He wanted to help and he really thought he did.

       The door swings open, so Louis quickly dabs his face with a paper towel. When he moves the paper towel away from his face and opens his eyes, Louis sees the reflection of the most mesmerizing eyes.

           This feels like falling in love

       Falling in love

       Falling in love

 


	18. 18

       Louis’ heart beats rapidly. One year. Twelve months. Fifty-two weeks. Three hundred and sixty-five days. All this time has passed, but suddenly, it feels like no time has passed at all and everything Louis felt for Harry a year ago is radiating around him like a halo. Louis closes his eyes and thinks back to the very first time he ever saw Harry in this very same place and how he was instantly pulled towards him. That night, if you were to tell Louis everything that has happened, he would have never believed you, but now, if you were to tell Louis that after a horrible year, Harry will be back, he probably still wouldn’t believe you. That is, if he didn’t see Harry for himself.

       He turns around before he opens his eyes because Louis needs his breath to catch up and slow down all at the same time. When his back is towards the sinks, he opens his eyes expecting to see a mess of curls in front of him, but there’s no one there. Louis looks to his left and to his right, but there is no one with him in the toilets.

       With a sigh, Louis stalks back out to the main floor where Ed is still playing. He shoots him a thumbs up as he passes and makes his way over to the bar. Louis could use a drink. Like, he could really use a drink. Though, when he is close enough to the bar to hear the conversation Stan is having with one of the guests, Louis’ mouth drops at what he hears. He quickly rushes behind the bar and pulls Stan away from the crowd.

       “What’re you doing?” Stan asks.

       Louis drops his hand from Stan’s arm. “What am I doing?” he repeats, and then scoffs. “Stan, what the hell are you doing?”

       Stan shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout, mate.”

       “No?” he raises his brow. “How about the crude comments you were making to those guests at the bar? Does that ring a bell?”

       “What? They were talking rubbish and they had it coming,” Stan replies like it’s no big deal.

       Louis is baffled at his friend’s attitude. “Who are you?”

       “Excuse me?”

       “The Stan I knew would never be such an arsehole to people on purpose,” Louis says. “The Stan I knew wouldn’t be in the running for the biggest douche of the universe. The Stan I knew would never say what you just said.” He shakes his head. “What happened to you?”

       Stan rolls his eyes. “Nothing happened to me, Louis. I haven’t changed, but you?” He points to Louis. “You are a completely different person. You move to the city and all of a sudden you’re married to a guy and are the—”

       Louis cuts him off. “Are you serious right now? Please tell me you are joking.” He cannot believe his childhood best friend is acting like such a homophobe.

       “If you want to talk about who people are, you should look at yourself!” Stan stares right into Louis’ eyes to try to be intimidating. “The Louis I knew wouldn’t be married to a bloke. The Louis I knew would never be caught dead with a guy.” He laughs humorlessly. “The Louis I knew wasn’t a fag.”

       “Nope, nu-uh!” Louis shakes his head. Stan isn’t acting like a homophobe, he is a homophobe. “That is it. Stan, get the fuck out of my club. I am not going to let you stand here and call me that. Do you know how many people take their lives after people call them such names?”

       “Weird.”

       “Weird?” Louis exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. “I cannot believe how long it has taken me to see who you truly are and I am done dealing with your shit. I gave you this job out of the kindness of my heart, but you just lost that. Get out before I call security.”

       Stan rolls his eyes. “Whatever. ‘s not like I wanted to work for butt-fucker anyways.”

       Louis’ hands are balled up into fists and as much as he wants to punch the living shit out of Stan, he contains himself because he doesn’t want to make a scene for Ed’s sake. “Go,” Louis says, motioning towards the door.

       With a shrug to the shoulders, Stan walks out of the Red Wave without another word. Louis takes his place behind the bar and apologizes to anyone who comes up for a drink. Out of everyone, why are his supposed best friends the ones who betray him so badly? What has Louis done other than be the best person he could possibly be to these people for them to do such things? It just doesn’t make sense.

       Around one in the morning, everyone has left the club leaving Louis and Ed alone. After Ed says his goodbyes to some family members, he comes up to the bar. “What happened with Stan?” he asks. “I saw you two talking and it didn’t look pretty.”

       Louis shakes his head. “Y’know that list of people who you thought were your friends, but turn out to be the complete opposite?” Louis asks and Ed nods. “Well, Stan’s on that list.”

       Ed frowns. “I’m sorry, mate.”

       He shrugs. “The closest people to you are the ones who hurt you most.”

       “That is one hell of a line. Mind if I use it in a song?”

       Louis chuckles, but it’s not as big and bold as it should have been. He is tired of everything that his life has become and he can’t wait to move on. Part of him is thinking about shutting down the club and starting a new project. Dreams die every day and maybe it’s time for Louis to find a new dream. “Yeah, sure. If I can help make you a global superstar, then by all means, go for it. Out of everyone I know, you’re the only one who has stuck by me without stabbing me in the back, so Ed, thank you for that.”

       “You sound like you could seriously need a drink, mate,” Ed says.

       “I’ve needed a drink, or five for the past three hours, but since I have to clean this place up and drive home, I didn’t go there. And plus, I need to get back here early tomorrow to clear out the tables and chairs and stuff before the club opens for the night,” Louis explains. Damn, he has a lot to do.

       “I can help you with that,” he offers.

       “You better.”

       By the time Louis gets home, it is well after three in the morning and he is exhausted. He strips off his clothes and dives into bed, wanting to fall asleep as fast as he can before his thoughts takeover. Louis has found a few possible houses that he needs to check out in person sometime within the next week and he needs to continue packing up all of his things. For one person, Louis has a lot of stuff and he is lazy, which makes the packing process last forever. He has a lot to do before he actually makes the move, but for now, he’s just going to go to sleep and think about it tomorrow.

~

       The first thing Louis does when he wakes up is take a shower. A decent night of sleep and a shower is all he needs to brush off everything that has happened in the past year and start moving forward to the next chapter of his life. Louis slips on a blue jumper and jeans, rolling up the bottoms and goes downstairs. He quickly eats a bowl of cereal and drinks a cup of tea before heading back to the club. It is well past noon and it will take both him and Ed hours to make the Red Wave actually look like a club again instead of a ballroom.

       As he unlocks the door to the club, Louis phone starts ringing. “Hello?” he picks up.

       “Louis, hey, where are you right now?” Zayn’s voice asks.

       “I just got to the club. Why?” Louis balances his phone between his shoulder and face as he enters the club with a large box in his hands.

       “Oh, never mind.”

       “Are you sure?” he asks. There is something in Zayn’s voice that seems off and Louis wonders if Zayn needs a ride home from the airport or something of the sort.

       “Yeah,” Zayn assures him. “I’ll talk to you later.” He ends the call before Louis can say anything else.

       Carefully, Louis drops his phone on top of the box, so he can get to the main floor without straining his neck. He is expecting a dark room, but that is not what he walks into. The twinkly lights from the night before are lit with what looks like hundreds of candles on the tops of all of the tables. The club is glowing and Louis has no idea why. He lowers the box to the ground and when he does, he notices the rose petals that are all over the floor.

       “What is going on?” Louis whispers to himself.

       Slowly, Louis walks forward, trying his best not to mess anything up or knock into one of the tables and making the candles fall. He gets to the bar and leans back on it, taking in the sight of the club and the sight is beautiful. As he is admiring the hard work of an unknown person, Louis suddenly feels hot breath by his ear followed by a quiet, “Louis.”

       The older boy snaps his head to the side and from the corner of his blue eyes, he sees him. Louis turns around fully and there is no doubt that there is a smile on his lips. Louis watches intently as he walks out from behind the bar and over to him because Louis is scared that if he looks away, he will be gone. He takes in his dark, curly hair, his bright, green eyes, his cute, dimpled cheeks, and his plump, pink lips. He needs to be sure that this is not his imagination going wild again because that will stomp on his already broken heart. “H-Harry?” Louis’ voice is barely above a whisper.

       “Yes, love?”

       His deep voice sounds so good in Louis’ ears that he wants to hear it again. “You’re really here?”

       Harry nods, his eyes glowing with the candles. “I am.”

       Without a second thought, Louis lunges forward and kisses Harry like there will be no tomorrow. The kiss starts of soft, but soon becomes needy because both boys have been without each other for such a long time. When they finally break for air, Louis has his hands on Harry’s shoulders. He looks up at him and says, “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

       “I’m so sorry for leaving.” He tightens his arms around Louis’ waist.

       It’s been a long year since they spoke that Louis just shakes his head. He should be angry, downright pissed that Harry just left like he did, but he’s not. He’s relieved and he’s just so happy that Harry is back. He doesn’t want to waste any time with Harry living in the past because they are finally together and that’s all that matters. “I love you.”

       “I just, I never believed you when you said that, but I really wanted to. I never got used to the fact that there was actually someone who loved me. It just seems so unreal,” Harry explains.

       Louis moves onto his tippy toes and gently kisses Harry. “But you believe me now, right?”

       “More than you ever know.” Harry lets go of Louis and takes a step back, making Louis’ hand fall off his shoulders. Before Louis can say anything, Harry gets down on one knee and Louis’ eyes go wide. “Louis, I know this year has been shit and I’m to blame for that. I’m sorry for everything and I should have never left. I love you, like I really, really love you and I couldn’t ask for anyone better for me to love. I couldn’t love anyone else because you, Louis, you are the only person on this entire planet that I am in love with.”

       He stands there, looking down at Harry and trying his best not to let the tears in his eyes fall. Harry coming back is emotional as it is, but this – this is too much for Louis to handle all at once. “Harry, I—”

       “Let me finish, please,” Harry pleads and Louis closes his mouth. “When I was in America, I lived with this couple who had such a powerful connection and I found myself wanting that, but then I remembered that I have that, with you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the little black velvet box he got about a week ago with Niall. Harry opens the box and holds it out for Louis to see. “I know we’re already married, but I was hoping we could actually have a ceremony with people and everything, so will you, Louis William Tomlinson, do me the honor and be my husband?”

       Louis is speechless. The ring is beautiful. The background is beautiful. The boy kneeling in front of him is beautiful. The tears Louis has been trying to hold back escape from his eyes and with a choked sob, he says, “Yes.”

       If it’s even possible, Harry’s eyes get brighter as he hears Louis’ response. He slides the ring onto Louis’ finger before standing up and colliding his lips with Louis’. “I love you.”

       “I love you, too.”

       Harry wipes the tears from Louis’ eyes. “Can we go home?”

       Louis nods. “Of course.” He interlocks his hand with Harry’s and leads him to the car. Louis knows he still needs to prepare the club for the night, but none of that matters anymore. Harry is back and he wants to go home and that is the only thing on his mind.

       “Wait,” Harry says as Louis pulls out of his parking space. “We should blow out all of the candles before your club catches fire.”

       He pouts. “But,” Louis begins his protest, but stops when he sees Ed pull up. He rolls down his window when Ed gets out of his car. “Hey, Ed!” The ginger walks over to the Porsche. “Do me a favour and blow out all of the candles please. After that, will you please put up the closed sign and lock up? We’ll clean up tomorrow.” There is something different – something chipper and happy – about the tone in Louis’ voice that Ed clearly catches.

       Ed is confused, but nods anyways. “Yeah, sure mate, no problem.”

       “Thanks,” Louis smiles. “We’ll see you later.”

       “We?” Ed questions.

       “Hi Ed,” Harry chirps from the passenger side and Ed nearly loses his footing, but smiles regardless.

       “Oh, you’re back.” He nods. “Well, you two have fun.” Ed quickly turns away and heads to get inside because he knows those two have a lot of catching up to do. He is glad that Harry is finally back because that means the old Louis will come back as well.

       When the reunited couple arrive at their house, Harry notices the for sale sign on the front lawn and wants to ask Louis about it, but he decides against it. As soon as they are inside and the door is closed, Louis wastes no time in attaching his lips with Harry’s like he is trying to make up for all the kisses they have missed in the past year. He has missed Harry and he will not keep the love he has for this boy quiet, not now, not in a million years.

       Louis begins walking backward, pulling Harry with him because there is no way he is letting this boy go ever again. They make it to the stairs with no problem, but right when Louis tries to get up to the first step, he stumbles. Harry quickly steadies him. “You alright?”

       “Yeah,” Louis replies. He turns his head to see what he tripped on and sees that it was a guitar case. Wait a minute. “Is that a guitar case?” he questions.

       Harry nods. “Yeah, I should have put it down somewhere different.” Next to the guitar are a suitcase and the original bag Harry seems to always travel with. “But there wasn’t a lot of time for me to drop off my things and make it back to the Red Wave without you seeing me.”

       He stares at Harry in amazement. “I . . . You . . . You know how to play the guitar?”

       The younger boy chuckles. “Yeah, one of the people I lived with, Niall, he taught me. I’m not the best at it, but I’m okay, I guess.”

       “I am so glad you are here,” Louis says as he gently rubs his thumb on Harry’s cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

       “I’ve missed you, too.”

       If you ask either of the boys, they will not be able to tell you how they got up to their bedroom. Or how they are shirtless. And without trousers. All they know is how much they love one another unconditionally and all they feel is the heat from the sparks radiating off of their bodies. Everything is going great – eager hands all over and eager kisses all around – and then it halts.

       Louis glances up at the boy who is hovering above him. “Why’d you stop?”

       Harry looks torn. “Are you sure you want to do this, Lou? I mean, we can always wait ‘til you’re ready.”

       “I am ready,” Louis assures him. “I want this. I want you.”

       “But—”

       Louis cuts him off with a kiss. “Harry, there will be no other person who I want to share this with. I trust you completely and I love you absolutely.”

       He is still unsure of this. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

       “Are you going to leave again?”

       “Never.”

       “Then I won’t be getting hurt,” Louis says simply.

       Harry’s green orbs are as intense as ever when he says, “I love you.”

       He smiles. “I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing you say that.” Louis slides his hands up Harry’s arm, to his shoulders, and then to the back of his neck, pulling him down, so he can kiss him. He lifts his hips up to cause from friction between their midsections. This is where everything changes and for the first time in a year, the change is for the better.

~

       When Louis is brushing his teeth that night, Harry wraps his arms around his waist and rests his chin on Louis’ shoulder. Louis spits into the sink and then leans back into Harry’s arms. He feels safe and warm and perfect when he is with Harry that Louis fears that right when he get used to it again, it will be taken away from him. Kind of like the rug will be ripped out from under him and he will be left with no one but himself.

       “Hey, you alright?”

       Louis places his hands over Harry’s. “Yeah, this is just . . . different.”

       Harry kisses his neck. “Good different or bad different?”

       Without any conscious awareness, the corners of Louis’ mouth twitch until he is full on smiling. “Good, definitely good.” He turns around in Harry’s arms so he can face him and just, stare. Louis has only had Harry back for about ten hours and he never wants to spend such a long amount of time away from him ever again. Part of him wants to be mad at Harry for leaving in the first place, but the other part can’t find any anger in all of the love.

       “That’s good,” Harry smiles. “Now tell me, why is about fifteen percent of this house packed up in boxes?”

       “Uh . . .” Shit. “I was thinking about um, moving.”

       “Moving,” he repeats, nodding once. “Zayn didn’t say anything about moving.”

       Louis opens his mouth to say something, but closes it. Why on earth would Harry be talking to him? That doesn’t make sense. “Wait, Zayn? What?”

       Harry takes Louis’ hand and takes him into the bedroom, sitting him down on the bed. “Who do you think got me to come back to London?”

       “I—” He is speechless. Louis knew Zayn went out of town, but he didn’t know he went to find Harry. How did he even know where Harry was? Why did he even care? Zayn is not a fan of Harry. “But, how?”

       “He found out where I was, flew over and apologized for everything and told me you were practically miserable—”

       “I was not miserable,” Louis interjects.

       “Sure.”

       “Whatever. What else did Zayn say?” he asks.

       “Other than his apology,” Harry says, “he basically said he wanted us to be happy and the only way we would be is if we were together. And the next day, we were flying back to London.” He purposely leaves out the part where he thought Louis had moved on and gotten married to some girl because there’s no point in bringing that up when it’s not true.

       Louis lays back. He has a half mind to change the sheets after what he and Harry had done in the bed not all that long ago, but it can wait. “I just . . . wow.”

       “I know.” Harry lays down next to Louis. After a minute, Harry chuckles. “You’re gonna be so jealous when I tell you where I ended up.”

       He turns his head. “What, were you like in Paris or something?”

       “No,” Harry shakes his head. “I went to North Carolina in America.” Louis doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t get why he should be jealous, so Harry adds in one more detail. “Wilmington, North Carolina.”

       “No,” Louis gasps as he sits up. He turns his body, so he can easily look at Harry. “You did not go there!”

       “I did. I got to see the gym they used to play games and the street for Karen’s Café and the pier that overlooks the river and the area where they had the River Court. I’m sad they tore it down after the show ended because from the episodes, it looked like a cool place to hang around,” Harry tells him.

       “I am massively jealous right now,” Louis admits. He can’t believe that Harry had been living in the very town where his favorite TV show was filmed.

       There is a smug smile on Harry’s lips. “I knew you would be.”

       Louis rolls his eyes. “Where’d you leave off in the series anyways?”

       “Um . . .” Harry thinks back to over a year ago when he was watching One Tree Hill in the living room. He can’t remember everything that happened in the last episode he watched, but he remembers some of it. “I think it was the episode when Peyton hosts the concert to raise money for breast cancer research.”

       “Oo.” Louis makes a face.

       Harry sits up. “What?”

       “I can’t believe that’s where you left off.” Louis swipes the box of tissues off of the bedside table and stands up. “C’mon, let’s go watch the next episode.”

       “But it’s late.”

       He shrugs. “It’s never too late.”

       Harry doesn’t need to be told anything else for him to follow Louis downstairs to the living room. Both of them know they should go to sleep, especially Harry considering he’s partially jetlagged, but they are too busy enjoying the company of each other to get tired.

~

SIX MONTHS LATER

           “Y’know, I was really glad to see Louis and Harry back in my office a few months ago. They looked happy and healthy and just filled with life that anyone would be crazy not to smile in their presence,” Tom begins. “I knew from the day they signed their marriage certificate almost two years ago that albeit, they were nervous, that they would make it. And when they asked me to be here to join them together in front of their friends and family, who was I to refuse?” He smiles. “Just like the first time, these two didn’t want to go through the boring formalities and chose to write their own vows, so Harry, go ahead.”

       “Oh.” Harry smiles nervously before turning his body towards his husband-to-be again and stares into his eyes. He takes his hands in his own and begins telling him just how much he loves him. “Louis, I don’t think I have ever properly thanked you for getting me out of the life that I believed I was stuck in. You truly came out of nowhere and rescued me like a knight in shining armor and I know that even when I try, I won’t be able to thank you enough. You saved me and showed me the life I only dreamt of having and I am so, so grateful that you came into my life.”

       Louis’ eyes begin to water, but he holds back his tears because he knows if he cries, Harry will cry and neither of them will be able to get their words out, and it will be just one big, crying mess. He takes a small breath and takes in how beautiful this whole moment is. They are both wearing black tuxes, his with a white vest and white tie while Harry is with a white bowtie. His family is sitting in the first row and his mother just looks so proud of them. Harry has Niall and Liam to his side while Louis has Zayn and Ed. This could not be any better.

       Harry bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from blurting out everything he wants to say too quickly. “You’ve helped me so much in the time we’ve known each other that I just want you to know I am here for you just like you have been for me. When you need someone to inspire you, I want it to be me. When you need a helping hand, I want it to be mine. When you long for someone to smile at, turn to me. When you have something to share, share it with me.

       “I know that we had some bad times in the past year, but Louis, you’re just so amazing and loving that even our bad times didn’t even feel all that bad. You have the biggest heart in the world and there is not one person who is kinder than you are. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone like you, but I’m not complaining in the least. You are the best friend and husband I could ever ask for and I feel like the luckiest man on Earth because I get to call you mine.”

       He takes a slow breath, letting himself catch up to everything he just said. “So, what I’m trying to say is thank you for everything, especially loving me and showing me a better life. I know we will get through whatever life throws at us because you are strong – you make me strong,” Harry smiles. “I will love you until the end of time. This, I vow to you today.”

       Louis is speechless. He has never heard Harry so sincere and genuine and loving all at once like that. He feels like his heart is about to explode with feelings he can’t describe. The tears in his eyes are becoming too much for his eye sockets to hold, so when a tear or two fall down his cheeks, he quickly wipes them away.

       “Louis,” Tom says, letting him know it’s time for him to speak.

       “Oh man, how am I supposed to follow that?” Louis asks. “I knew I should have gone first.”

       “You’re the one who lost the coin toss,” Harry interrupts which causes the crowd to laugh.

       Louis lets out a small, but honest chuckle. “Yeah.” He composes himself and takes a deep breath before he begins. “Harry, from the first time I ever saw you, I knew that there was something about you that was special, and since then, you have proved to me time and time again that I was right. I want you to know that even though we’ve had our hard times, there is nothing in this world that could make me love you less. In fact, I love you more every single time I look into those beautiful eyes of yours.

       “In the time that we’ve known each other, I have seen you grow so much and I can’t help but smile at the wonderful person you’ve grown into. You are compassionate and caring, and everything that I am so proud of you for being. Harry, without knowing, you have showed me the true magic of love and I thank you for that. I never understood what it meant to be so unconditionally and unbelievably in love with someone before and that all changed when I met you.”

       Harry’s bottom lip trembles, so he bites it before his face crumbles into tears. It blows his mind that Louis can love him so much – even after everything – and he really could not be happier.

       “I have and always will tell you that I love you and that I will protect you because you are worth loving and protecting. When we first got married, it wasn’t ideal and no one understood why we did it, but that didn’t change what I believed. And, what I believed was that you deserved the greatest life because I knew you were greatness itself. So, I thank you again for proving me right.” Louis smiles up at Harry. “And you know I love being right.”

       Louis pauses for a couple seconds before continuing. “Haz, I promise to love you every day regardless of our wealth or our health, or if we’re grouchy old men. I promise to be there for you for the good times and bad times. I promise to be next to you when you go to sleep at night and still be here when you wake up in the morning. You are the love of my life and that will never waver. This, I vow to you today and forever.”

       The couple just looks at each other and there is so much love radiating off of them that every single person witnessing this wedding can feel it. Their love is strong and not one person can deny that.

       “Harry, do you reconfirm and rededicate yourself to the vows you made before on this day?” Tom asks.

       Harry turns to his left to his best men and Niall hands him the ring. He turns back around to Louis and says, “I do,” before slipping the ring onto Louis’ finger.

       “Louis, do you reconfirm and rededicate yourself to the vows you made before on this day?”

       Zayn is already holding the ring out for him when Louis turns to get it. Thanks mate, he mouths before taking the ring. “I do,” Louis responds as he slides the ring up Harry’s finger.

       “And now, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and husband, again.” Tom smiles. “You may now kiss your husband.”

       “I love you, Harry.”

       “I love you, too.”

       They capture each other in a kiss and the entire crowd jumps to their feet and cheers. This is their perfect moment. This is their happy ending. This is their forever.


	19. 19

       There are moments in our lives where we take a minute and just let ourselves catch up to where we are and how much we’ve accomplished and how we got to where we are today. We think about where we were last year, five years ago, or even ten years ago and it’s amazing to see how far we have come. We think about who helped us along the way and how grateful we are to have them in our lives. We think about all the little miracles and all of the big experiences. It is these moments that make us stop and ask ourselves what is my life.

 

 

       “Why are you looking at me like that?” Louis asks, voice full of sleep.

       Harry blinks a couple times before clearing his vision. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I couldn’t sleep.”

       Louis frowns. “Why not?”

       “You were talking in your sleep.”

       “I’m sorry. I thought I broke that habit years ago, but I guess not,” he tells his husband.

       “No,” Harry shakes his head. “You’ve talked in your sleep before and it’s never bothered me.” Now Louis is confused. If talking nonsense while completely unaware of it isn’t keeping Harry up, then what is? Harry senses Louis’ confusion and continues on. “It’s what you said, actually. It got me thinking.”

       Louis buries his face in his pillow. “Oh God, did I say something embarrassing? I totally said something embarrassing, didn’t I? I’m never gonna live this down, am I?”

       Harry chuckles. “You don’t even know what you said.”

       “I can only assume.”

       He gently pushes Louis’ shoulder, so his face is out in the open for him to see. After all this time, Harry is still amazed at how beautiful Louis is and that this beautiful person loves him. It’s unreal. “It was nothing embarrassing,” he assures him. “It’s just . . . You kept repeating this phrase over and over again. D’you like,” Harry pauses for a moment to figure out how to word his question. “Want to go somewhere that doesn’t rain so often?”

       If Louis was confused before, he is even more confused now. “I mean, it’s nice to get a continuous amount of sunshine, but where did that question come from? Did I say something about that in my sleep?”

       “You said ‘for blue skies’ like a million times, so I’m assuming you want to go somewhere with blue skies?” The last part comes out as a question because honestly, Harry has no idea what he’s talking about.

       The older boy bursts out into a fit of laughter. Harry furrows his brow at him and Louis tries to control his laughter, but he finds it too funny. It takes him a couple minutes, but when he’s calm enough, Louis sits up. “That phrase is a song title, silly. I was learning how to play it after my mum sent me the piano.”

       “A song?”

       “Yes.”

       “Huh . . .” Harry reaches over to his bedside table and grabs his phone. He taps at the screen before looking away from it and back at Louis.

       Louis gasps when he hears music coming out of the phone. “Oh dear, has Harry finally figured out that technology is his friend and not his enemy?”

       “Oi! Shut it, I’m trying to listen to the song.” Harry starts the song over and listens intently. His head automatically begins bobbing to it. “This is really pretty,” he says once the piano kicks in.

       “Innit?”

           It’s been a long year since we last spoke

       The first line echoes in Harry’s ears and he instantly feels guilty for leaving all over again. His mouth turns downwards and his mistakes replay in his head. “I’m so sorry,” he says so quietly that Louis barely catches it over the song.

       Louis takes the phone from Harry’s hands and stops the music. “You’ve already apologized. It’s done now. It’s over and it’s in the past.”

       “But how can you be so okay with it?” Harry asks, torn. “I didn’t understand it when I came back and I don’t understand it now.” That day Zayn brought him back to London, Harry expected Louis to yell and be angry, and maybe even throw a punch, but what he got was not what he expected. It’s not that he is ungrateful to have such a kind, big-hearted person to be so forgiving, but it just doesn’t make sense. Louis should have been pissed, part of him should still be pissed, but he’s not. Why is that?

       “Haz,” Louis sits up and sits so he facing Harry. “When you first left, I was hurt and angry and bitter, and as much as I wanted to hate you for leaving, I just . . . I couldn’t. The world kept spinning and time kept going, and before I knew it, an entire year had passed.”

       “But you should hate me.”

       “I can’t do that,” he tells him. “It hurt like a bitch while you were gone because I honest to God loved you – I still love you – but by the time the year had gone, I thought back to everything that happened. Being mad at Zayn wasn’t going to bring you back. Hating you wasn’t going to fix everything.”

       Harry shakes his head. “It still doesn’t make sense, Lou. I was stupid and I ran away like a coward and I couldn’t even bring myself to say anything to you because I knew what I did was wrong and I knew you would never forgive me.”

       “That’s too bad because I did forgive you.”

       “But it’s too much to forgive.”

       Louis takes a breath. He can see that Harry has been trying to figure this out for such a long time now and it’s tearing him apart. Yes, it was a bit out of the box for him to forgive so easily, but Louis did it for a reason. “You’re missing the point.” He takes Harry’s hand and intertwines their fingers. “I forgave you because you came back. The look you had in your eyes that day, it practically screamed how sorry you were and how you won’t ever leave again. I knew in that moment that finally, everything was going to be okay.” He squeezes his hand. “Does it make sense now?”

       “Everything’s okay?”

       “It has been, hasn’t it?”

       Harry nods. “Yeah.”

       And everything has been okay. It baffles Louis to think that just a few months ago, he and Harry had a wedding in front everyone who is important to them. It puzzles him to think that almost two years ago, Harry left and that a little over three years, he saw Harry for the first time. It elates him to think that just by helping one person, his whole life has changed and he found the love of his life. Louis never expected his life to turn out this way – all he wanted was to make a name of his own without using his parents’ money – and he couldn’t be happier because he can feel that stillness he’s always yearned for.

~

       “Harry? You okay there, mate?”

       He blinks and snaps back into reality. “Yeah, sorry. Spaced out there for a moment.”

       Niall laughs. “You always do that.”

       “I do not,” Harry retorts.

       “Do so.”

       “Don’t tease him, Nialler,” Liam says, giving Niall a stern look. He turns back to the screen of the computer to continue on the Skype call. “We asked what you had planned for Christmas next week?”

       Harry nods. “On the twenty-third, we’re planning on packing up the car and driving over to Lou’s parents’ house, so we can all spend his birthday and Christmas together. We’re gonna make a weekend out of it and come back on the twenty-sixth.”

       Liam smiles. “Make sure you wish him happy birthday from us. It’s not every year that someone turns thirty.”

       “Shh,” Harry barks at his laptop that’s sitting on the kitchen counter. “You don’t want Louis hearing that. He still likes to pretend he is a teenager.”

       Both Niall and Liam chuckle. “Well, I’m sure you’re keeping ‘im young,” Niall says, winking at the end.

       The youngest of the group ignores the comment. “You two are set to fly over for New Year’s, right?”

       “Yep,” Liam answers, popping the ‘p’. “We should be landing on the twenty-eighth, I believe.”

       “And then we’re gonna have one of those infamous Louis-Harry parties that I’ve heard so much about.” Niall is clearly excited, probably thinking that whatever shindig Louis and Harry have planned will have lots of booze.

       Harry leans his hands on the granite. “You do realize that we haven’t had a party like that in about five years, right?”

       As if right on cue, there is a loud scurry of feet against the tile until Harry feels something wrap around his legs. “They’re hereeeeeeeeeee.”

       He bends down and picks up his son. “Daniel, say hi to Niall and Liam,” he says, pointing at the two people on the screen.

       “Hi,” the little boy squeaks, waving to them.

       Liam gushes at how adorable Daniel is and Niall said he better not be getting any ideas, not yet anyways. Harry just shakes his head and smiles. “Alright you two, I better get going. I’ll talk to you later and I will definitely see you guys in a couple of weeks.”

       “Absolutely,” Liam says.

       “Can’t wait,” Niall throws in.

       Everyone choruses in their byes, even little Daniel before Harry ends the call and shuts the top of the laptop. Harry ruffles his son’s hair, noticing how the ends curve and if it grows out anymore, he’ll have a tangled mess of curls. “You’re going to need a haircut soon.”

       “No,” he shakes his head. “No haircut.”

       “And why not?” Harry asks, but Daniel doesn’t respond verbally; he just tugs at one of Harry’s curls. “Ah,” he nods in understanding. “But when it gets too long, we’ll have to cut it.”

       “Okay,” Daniel chirps. His small hands grab onto his dad’s cheeks and he squeezes them. “They’re here!” His blue eyes are shining with excitement.

       He laughs. “Then let go of my cheeks, so we can say hi them.” Daniel complies and Harry carries him into the living room where Zayn and Michelle are sitting and talking with Louis. “Hey,” he greets them, letting Daniel down.

       The five year old runs to Michelle and with a huge grin, he asks her, “Guess what?”

       “What is it, love?”

       “I have the best dads ever!”

       Zayn snorts and Michelle has to cover her mouth from smiling too big.

       “Oi!” Louis shouts. “We are the best dads, aren’t we Harry?”

       He takes a seat next to his husband. “Absolutely,” Harry answers, moving his face closer to Louis’ and giving him a gentle kiss.

       Daniel scrunches his face together. “Gross!”

       The four adults laugh at his disgust. Louis rests his hand on Harry’s knee without any thought to it and asks, “Where’s your little one?” He pulls his son to him.

       “We got Ed to babysit for the day,” Zayn replies.

       Harry raises his brow. “Ed? Is that safe? Are you sure he won’t let your toddler drink beer?”

       Michelle chuckles. “Yes, we’re sure. He should be here soon with Drew.”

       “Drew?” Daniel turns his head towards Michelle, suddenly interested in what was coming out of her mouth.

       “Yes,” she nods.

       Zayn smiles. “How crazy is it that our kids are best mates just like us?”

       Louis shrugs. “No one can resist the Tomlinson charm.”

       “I surely couldn’t.”

       “I love you, babe.”

       “I love you, too.” Harry leans in to kiss Louis, but a yuck leaves someone’s lips and he stops himself. He moves his gaze to Daniel, but it wasn’t him who said it. “Zayn, really?”

       The doorbell rings the same time Zayn says, “What?” in a sheepish tone.

       Harry rolls his eyes before getting up to get the door. When he returns to the living room, he has a sleepy Drew in his arms and Ed behind him. Harry passes Drew off to his mum before turning towards Ed. “Well, looks like we have another guest.”

       Once Ed moves out of the way, everyone sees that there is indeed one other person in the room and this person is just smiling. Ed clears his throat. “Yeah . . . um, everyone this is Amy and  . . . yeah.”

       “Ed, why is this the first time any of us are meeting Amy?” Louis asks with a smile that any person in the room can tell means his sassiness it coming.

       Before Ed can say anything, Amy speaks up. “This is the first time you’re meeting me because I keep Ed rather busy, if you know what I mean.” She winks.

       “Oh.” Louis sits up straighter. “Well then.” He gives Ed an approving nod. “I like her.”

       “I do, too mate.” Ed and Amy sit on the third and last couch of the room.

       Harry returns to his seat and just takes in the moment in front of him. If you told him ten years ago when David first dragged him into selling his body that he’d meet Louis two years later and get married and a better life, then he wouldn’t have believed you. Since his parents passed away, Harry has thought his life was over and when his uncle began abusing him, he thought he was worthless. Days like today, Harry realizes just how wrong he was. His life began the moment he let Louis in and accepted the love Louis gave him. Harry has no one to thank but Louis and after eight years, he still doesn’t know how he could ever repay him.

       Louis smiles at where his life is right now. Since forever, he has always lent a helping hand whenever he could and he takes pride in helping others – it’s what Louis does. He has wanted to get away from his family’s name and their money, and he finally has. Everything he has right now – his club, his husband, his family – he did it without relying on his last name. He never would have imagined that just by helping one person get out of a bad situation solely on a feeling in his gut, that he would have found the one person he wanted to spend his life with. He never saw himself this happy before. He never knew he could feel as much joy as he does when he’s with Harry and Daniel.

It is amazing to think back on everything that has happened and how Louis and Harry have made it. In the beginning, it seemed impossible and crazy, but that’s one thing about them – they love proving everyone wrong.

 

 


	20. 20

       When you close your eyes, do you ever think about everything you have been through? Do you remember the obstacles you had to overcome and the decisions you had to make? Have you regretted anything that you did in the past and wish you could have a do over? Do you wonder where you would be if you didn’t do what you did? And most importantly, do you know if everything you came across in your life so far has made you a better or worse person?

~

       Harry shifts around Louis, attempting to get comfortable in their bed when he notices that Louis is still awake. “Whatever it is that you’re thinking, stop.”

       Louis turns his head. “Sorry, didn’t know you were awake.”

       “It’s hard to sleep when you’re thinking so loud,” Harry jokes. “But what’s on your mind?”

       He sighs. “I’m thinking about giving up the club business.”

       “What, why?” Harry sits up slightly, so he can look at Louis better. “You have a second location picked out and business is good.”

       Louis mimics Harry’s position. “We have a child, Haz and I feel like a shitty dad who disappears most nights and never wakes up in time in the mornings.”

       “You’re not a shitty dad,” Harry assures him. “And the Red Wave was your dream. Why would you want to give up on your dream?”

       “Wrong choice of words,” Louis says. “But, not give up on it . . . just move on from it.”

       “But what about the new location?”

       “I actually have another plan for it,” he admits.

       “Really?” Harry questions. “Care to tell me?”

       Louis smiles. “I was actually thinking of making it into a restaurant where you could be the head chef. Of course, we’ll need a staff of some sort to help you out in the kitchen and waiters and hosts, but in no time, the restaurant will have five stars and everyone will want to dine there,” he explains. “I love your cooking and I guarantee everyone else will, too.”

       Harry is speechless. Yes, he loves to cook and he’s been doing it forever. And yes, maybe he had a dream once upon a time of being a professional chef when he was fifteen and still living with David. He always experimented with whatever he could, but he never – like ever – thought much of it because it never seemed possible. Harry never even mentioned it to Louis, but here he is, making his fucking dream come true without even knowing.

       When Harry doesn’t say anything, Louis starts to freak out. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to tell him. Maybe a restaurant is not something he wants to do. Maybe this whole thing is a stupid idea and Louis should just forget about it. “Harry, are you alright?” Louis asks after a minute.

       He nods. “Yeah, I just . . . I really love you, you know that?”

       The smile Harry is showcasing is all Louis needs to know that this is okay. “I think you’ll have to remind me,” Louis smirks.

       “Is that so?” Harry asks as he begins trailing little kisses from Louis’ cheek and down to his neck. “How will I do such a thing?” He keeps the kisses going all around Louis’ torso, but stops when he gets to the waistband of his pajama bottoms. “Well?”

       “You are such a tease, Harry Styles.” Louis is obviously a bit frustrated, the sexual kind.

       “That’s Harry Tomlinson to you,” he says before pulling Louis’ PJs and pants down. “And don’t you forget it,” Harry grins before bringing his mouth to Louis’ shaft.

~

       The space for the restaurant is actually pretty great. It’s large and the ceilings are high and Harry is absolutely in love with it. He liked it when Louis was scouting for a new club location, but now that he knows it’s going to be a restaurant – his restaurant – he loves it.

       Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s waist from behind and rests his forehead on his shoulder. “How do you see this place in six months?”

       Harry places his hands over Louis’. “Well, up front, near the doors, we can have a podium for the host and have seating around there, so people have somewhere to sit when the restaurant is full. The bar could be right in front of the kitchen, and then of course tables everywhere.”

       “Hmm…” Louis kisses his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan.”

       “Are we really doing this?”

       “We are.”

       “It’s just really unbelievable,” Harry admits.

       Louis turns Harry around in his arms. “Well, believe it darling because it’s happening. The website should be up in a couple of months, so people can start applying to work here. But we do need a name first.”

       He sighs. “I don’t know what to call it.”

       “You’ll think of something,” Louis whispers before leaning up and attaching his lips to his husband’s. Harry moves one hand to cup Louis’ jaw while his other hand goes to his hair. Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s neck and plays with the curls on the base of his head.

       They get lost in each other until someone clears their throat. “Y’know, if you’re about to break this place in with a shag, we can come back later.”

       Louis peeks his head around Harry and sees Zayn and Michelle standing a good ten feet away from them. “You two can come closer because I can always ravish Harry when we get home,” Louis muses and Harry blushes.

       “And to think how big of a virgin you were before you met good ol’ Harry here,” Zayn smirks.

       The eldest of the group gives Zayn a look. “How very dare you.”

       Zayn laughs. “You’re only mad because it’s true.”

       “Okay,” Michelle claps her hands together. “Before you two do whatever it is that you two do, that I still don’t understand by the way, let’s join forces and do what we came here to do.” She smiles. “And that is to plan a certain seven-year-old’s birthday party.”

       Harry speaks for the first time since Zayn and Michelle came. “I knew I liked you.”

       She curtsies. “I’m very likeable.”

       “Okay,” Louis claps his hands together. “Before you two break out into whom has the better husband debate, that Harry is going to win in,” he winks. “Let’s get started.”

       Zayn snorts. “It’s not good to lie, Lou.” Louis sticks his tongue out and flips him the bird. “And that’s not nice.”

       The four neighbors sit together and throw out ideas they have for Daniel’s birthday party. By the end of the hour, each of them has a certain task: Harry is in charge of food (chicken fingers and mac’n’cheese, anyone?), Zayn is in charge of decorating (every kid loves superheroes, right?), Louis is in charge of entertainment (Ed Sheeran, y’all!), and Michelle is in charge of invitations (classmates and neighbors, how hard can it be?).  Daniel’s big day is only weeks away, so on top of getting the restaurant going, they also have to make sure this party is up to Daniel’s standards because well, they love that kid with all of their hearts.

~

       In the chaos of just about everything being everywhere, Liam can’t seem to find his phone, which is definitely ringing at the moment. He searches through piles of clothes on his bed and all of crap on his dresser before he finds the object that somehow ended up in a shoe.

       “Hello?” he answers just seconds before the caller gets sent to voicemail.

       “Liam!” the voice is cheerful. “How are you, mate?”

       The American sits on the edge of his bed, probably sitting on some article of clothing, but he doesn’t care. “I’m doing pretty well.” Liam stares at the ring on his finger and smiles. “How’s everything going with you and Louis and Daniel?”

       “Brilliant,” Harry replies. “And how’s the husband?”

       Liam chuckles. “Niall’s how he always is – happy.”

       “That’s good to hear.”

       “Same about you.” Liam looks around the chaos of his room and silently sighs because it is getting rather claustrophobic in here. Niall enters the room and asks who Liam is talking to, and Liam just hands him the phone.

       “ ‘ello?”

       “Nialler!” Harry exclaims.

       Niall smiles. “Haven’t heard from you in a while.”

       “Yeah, sorry about that,” he apologizes. “Things have been busy here with the restaurant and Daniel’s birthday that you lads are coming to, right?”

       “Of course,” Niall responds. “We wouldn’t miss that kid’s birthday even if we wanted to.”

       “Good, just making sure.”

       He snorts. “Harry, you act like Liam and I don’t have tickets booked to fly to London and that we’re just not going to show up to our flight.”

       “Hey, you wouldn’t want to disappoint Daniel by not showing up, would you?” Harry asks. “He’s really looking forward to seeing his Uncle Niall and Uncle Liam.”

       “No way, I’m the best uncle ever!”

       Harry laughs. “Just don’t spoil my kid, please. He’s already picking up sarcasm from Louis.”

       “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Niall laughs.

       There’s a banging coming closer to the phone and Harry gasps. “Well, it looks like I am being beckoned to eat dinner. I’ll see you two soon. Tell Liam I say bye.”

       “Will do. Bye Harry,” he says before ending the call. Niall hands the phone back to Liam and smiles. “He is going to be super happy when we tell him.”

       Liam nods. “I’m sure he will. And I’m going to be super happy when we are packed and ready to go. This room is a mess!”

       Niall sits down on his lap. “Pack later, kiss now.”

       “That, I can do.”

~

       After Harry puts down the phone, he picks Daniel up. “You are getting so big,” he tells his son.

       Louis stands next to them. “He’s probably going to be as tall as you by the time he’s like fifteen and you two are just going to tower over me.”

       Harry chuckles. “But you’re short and cute!”

       Daniel reaches his hands out towards Louis and he takes him from Harry’s arms. “God, you are getting big. Kid, we’re not going to be able to carry you like this for much longer.”

       “It’s okay, I can walk.”

       Louis and Harry exchange surprised glances. “Well, if you say so.” Louis lowers him to the ground.

       Daniel walks around his dads and starts pushing their backs, trying to get them to move. “Come on, foooooooooooood!”

       Harry laughs. “Alright, quit pushing. We’re going.”

       “Good because I’m hungry!” And with that, Daniel runs into the dining room.

       “Hey, no running!” Harry calls after him. He starts walking, but Louis grabs his hand. “But Louis, fooooooood!”

       Louis rolls his eyes. “I love you.”

       “I love you, too.” Harry gives him a short kiss.

       Daniel sticks his head into the kitchen. “Gross!”

       The lovers shake their heads and go to join their son for dinner like the family that they are.

~

       “Let’s get this party started!” Niall cheers as he begins to pour punch into cups. Some may be fooled into thinking this party is for him for how excited he is, but the truth is that Niall is excited but not because of the party.

       Harry raises his brow. “As long as you’re not adding anything extra to the punch.”

       Stepping around a few kids running around, Liam walks up and wraps an arm around Niall’s waist. “Please tell me you are not accusing my husband of spiking the punch at a seven year old’s birthday party.”

       “Only if you tell me you are not accusing my husband for accusing your husband for whatever.” Louis literally comes out of nowhere with a party hat on his head.

       “Calm down, would ya?” Niall asks. “I’m just pourin’ the drinks, so these little rascals don’t get dehydrated and pass out.”

       “Haz, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s trying to get on my good side,” Louis stage whispers. “Why do you think that is?”

       Harry chuckles. “I have no idea, but on another note, you two really didn’t have to stay in a hotel. There’s plenty of room here and as often as we force you to visit us, I wouldn’t be surprised if you lads took a permanent residence here.”

       “Yeah,” Louis agrees. “Just grab one of the spare rooms and it’s yours.”

       Niall and Liam exchange a look. “That is very kind,” Liam says. “But I don’t know. It’s a huge move and there’s a lot to think about,” he lies. “And what about work? I haven’t found anywhere that would hire me other than to be a waiter and I can’t just abandon my uncle in Wilmington.”

       “That’s bull. You’re already moving here, aren’t you?” Harry asks, giving them both a knowing look.

       “Whoop, there it is. Secret’s out. Let’s drink,” Niall grins as he picks up one of the cups and downs the punch.

       Louis laughs. “But there’s a room here if you ever need it.”

       Liam shrugs. “I always was a shit liar,” he laughs. “And thank you.” He and Niall haven’t been staying in a hotel, but of a flat of their own not all that far away from Harry and Louis. It’s going to take some time for them to completely move to England, but it is definitely happening. Liam’s uncle has a music shop in London that was in need of new management and well, Niall was the best person for the job, but only part of the time; the other part, Niall is the sound director for some show that will start up production in the Fall. Liam, on the other hand, as well as working in the music shop is about to secure a career with one of his best mates that requires his talents.

       “You are very welcome, Liam Payne. I—” Louis stops talking when his party hat is snatched off of his head. “Hey!” he exclaims as he turns his head to see Zayn.

       “The hats are for the kids, Lou, not your thirty-three-year-old self.”

       Louis gasps and his eyes go wide. “You take that back!” He gives Zayn a whack to this shoulder.

       “Hey, now,” Michelle places a bowl of goody bags on the table. “No beating up my husband.”

       The six friends all burst into laughter because really, who would have imagined their lives turning out how they did? It’s weird to think how if just one event or circumstance didn’t happen, that they probably would not all be in the place they are not. If Zayn never pressured Harry and made him leave, would Louis and Harry be as strong as they are now? If Michelle never moved in next door, would she and Zayn have met and gotten married? If Harry never went to America, would Liam have gone to culinary school? If Zayn never apologized and brought Harry back, would Daniel even exist? And most importantly, if Louis never saved Harry, would Harry still be alive?

       In the lieu of kids everywhere, music playing, and an overboard of superhero decorations (thanks Zayn), the ring of the doorbell almost goes unnoticed. The first person to respond is no other than the birthday boy himself. He wastes no time in running to the front door, wondering who could it be and what present they have for him; however, when Daniel opens the door, it is not a guest at the door.

       “Dad!” Daniel shouts, hoping to catch his dad’s attention, or at least one of them.

       Louis leaves the group and heads to where his son is at the front door. When he spots who is standing in the doorway, he automatically straightens up. “Please tell me I haven’t gotten a noise complaint for a little kid’s birthday party,” he asks sheepishly.

       The officer shakes his head. “No, it’s not that. I’m really sorry to interrupt the fun, but does Harry Styles live here?”

       Louis freezes and puts a cautious hand on his son’s shoulder. “Why?”

       “Something has come up with his uncle,” the officer answers. “David Styles.”

       “What something?” Louis is slowly, but surely getting defensive because he doesn’t want anything to happen to Harry. ‘Something’ is an extremely vague word and Louis doesn’t know what to think of it. What if this officer is here to take Harry to jail for the few years he was forced to be a prostitute? What if this officer is here to take Harry back to David because that son of a bitch told the cops that Harry is missing or something of the sort? What if this officer is here to ruin their little family?

       “Are you Harry?”

       “No,” Louis replies. “But he’s my husband.”

       As if on cue, Harry appears next to Louis. “What’s going on?”

       Louis pats Daniel’s shoulder. “Love, go enjoy your party. We’ll cut the cake soon.” The birthday boy scurries off and Louis grabs Harry’s hand. “There’s apparently something going on with David, but this officer hasn’t said what.”

       Harry feels his stomach sink and he is very glad that Louis is holding his hand at the moment. He hates his uncle and he thought he was done with that man yet David is causing trouble once again. “Oh. Um, what is it about, officer?”

       One of Daniel’s schoolmates scream and the officer asks, “Is there someone we can talk that’s a bit quieter?”

       “Yes, of course.” Louis leads Harry and the officer to the garden. Once they are all sitting, Louis rubs his thumb on Harry’s hand to calm him down because he can feel his nerves.

       “Again, I apologize for coming the day of your son’s birthday.”

       Harry nods. “It’s okay. What about David?”

       The officer pulls out a folded piece of paper from his police vest and hands it to Harry. “Your uncle has been sent to prison.”

       “For what?” Harry asks, scanning the paper in front of him.

       “Evidence came up that he was running a prostitution ring with barely legal boys,” the officer tells them. “He was caught and all of the money he earned has been possessed.”

       Both Harry and Louis freeze because what if the officer knows Louis bought Harry ten years ago? What if Louis is about to get in trouble for human trafficking? What is Harry is about to get in trouble for prostitution?

       “It is in my knowledge,” the officer continues. “That you used to live with your uncle up until you got married to Louis here and moved in together. Is this true?”

       “Yes,” Harry answers. “Louis got me out of that house and away from David.” He cracks a small smile. “He saved me.”

       The officer nods. “That explains the restraining order.”

       Louis chuckles nervously. “Well, yeah. I didn’t want him bothering Harry or our family. David’s not the best person on this earth.”

       “He’s not,” the officer agrees. “Well, that paper is to tell you what prison he is in and where it’s located. It also has the date for his trial if you wanted to come.”

       “Thank you,” Louis says. “For coming here and letting us know, we appreciate it.”

       “It’s really no problem. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call the station and ask for Higgins.”

       The three men stand up and Harry and Louis walk Officer Higgins out. They shake his hand and return back to the party.

       “I can’t believe he got caught,” Harry mutters.

       “Believe it. And believe that you’re in a good place now and there is no chance in hell that I’m going to let you go anywhere else,” Louis tells him.

       They get closer to the party and they hear Daniel tell someone, “I have the best dads ever!”

       Joined at the hand, Harry and Louis enter the living room where just about everyone is. The kids are sitting on the floor in front of Ed while he plays his guitar and sings theme songs from superhero movies. The adults are sitting around the room, holding cups with various superheroes on them and chatting with each other.

       “I’ll go get the cake and get these rascals ready,” Harry instructs, using Niall’s word for the kids.

       Louis nods and Harry turns around to the kitchen. “May I have everyone’s attention?” It takes a couple tries before everyone quiets down. “As you all know, we are here to celebrate Daniel’s birthday. I know I can speak for Harry when I say that we are so proud to have Daniel as our son because he’s the most wonderful son either of us could have asked for.”

       “Sap!” Zayn heckles.

       “Do you mind?” The crowd laughs, but Zayn can’t respond because Harry walks into the living room with a cake in his hands and everyone immediately begins singing Happy Birthday.

       Harry places the cake on the coffee table in front of Daniel and once the song is over, he tells his son, “Make a wish!” Daniel thinks for a short moment before blowing out the candles, and Harry gets an idea. Everyone cheers and claps, and both fathers feed their son a bite of cake.

       Niall tries to get his fingers in the cake, but Michelle swats his hands away. “Alright everyone, back up and let me cut this cake,” she orders and the crowd immediately takes a step back. “Thank you,” she smiles.

       “Demanding, isn’t she?” Louis muses to no one in particular.

       “Lou.” Harry pulls Louis arm until they are a little over a meter away from everyone. “I thought of a name for the restaurant.”

       “It’s not ‘Daniel’s’ is it?”

       Harry gives him a blank stare. “No, I’m more original than that, thank you very much.”

       Louis smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, sorry.”

       “What do you think about Candalite?”

       He thinks it over for a few seconds before saying, “I love it.” Louis leans up and kisses Harry, but it is shorter than intended because Niall smears frosting on Louis’ cheek. Louis wipes his face with the back of his hand and glares at Niall. “You did not just do that.”

       “Uh oh,” is all Niall says before running away. He hides behind Liam – who is confused as to what is happening – and Louis tries to get Niall back.

       Ed walks up to Harry. “You do realize that your kid’s friends are more mature than your mates?”

       Harry laughs. “Yeah, but I love them for it and I wouldn’t have them any other way.”

~

       It is the night for the grand opening of Candalite and it is sort of a huge deal for Harry. He knows there are food critics around, so he needs to the food to be perfect. And yes, he has Liam as his right hand man in the kitchen, but Harry is still a bit nervous.

       When the kitchen slows down, Harry tells Liam that he’ll be right back and steps out onto the main floor. Harry is trying his best not to freak out, but this restaurant is something he’s always wanted and it is unbelievable that he actually got it. So much time and effort went into this place that Harry doesn’t want anything to go wrong and for his dream to go up in flames (or his kitchen).

       He begins wandering around to see if people are enjoying the food. So far, no one is throwing up and everyone looks content with their meals, so Harry takes it as a good sign. He goes to the restroom to splash some water on his face and get it together because he is freaking out over nothing. Harry can cook, he knows this, and he’s never received a bad compliment on his cooking. Sure, he’s not the best, but he’s good enough to please a room full of people.

       Harry stands in front of the mirror and just thinks about everything that has happened in the past ten years and how everything good is because of Louis. He has never been more grateful and he never thought he’d actually have such a great life. It’s amazing to think that he has a home that he feels safe in and has a family that loves him so much that he loves, too. It’s amazing to think that he has friends he can lean on and a job of what he wants to do. It’s amazing to think how one person can change your life so much in a good way.

       As Harry is thinking, the restroom door swings open and through the mirror, his eyes meet a wonderful shade of blue, and he can’t help but smile. In this moment, in this life, Harry Styles-Tomlinson is the luckiest person in the world.

~

       Some number of months later, the five friends find each other in the piano room as Harry and Louis have come to call it. This room was never used before and then Louis’ mum sent over the piano, and then Niall and Liam moved to London, and everything changed.

       If you asked them whose idea it was to come together every now and then in this room, they wouldn’t be able to tell you. Maybe it was a bit of everyone’s idea, but it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how well the five of them work together and how they are all able to lean on each other because of everything they have been through. What matters is the fact that when these five people join forces, nothing can break them – not even each other.

       Louis slides in behind the piano, Niall and Harry pick up their guitars, and Zayn and Liam adjust their mic stands. They have done this so many times before that they don’t even need to say anything as they set up.

       “Shall we do this, boys?” Louis asks. Every makes a sound of agreement and Louis presses down on the first keys of the song. Soon, the guitar kicks in and the vocals start, and the energy is strong. They play song after song because they can. They let their voices fade into each other’s because somehow, it just works. They enjoy each other’s company because this is their life and this is how it was supposed to be. Sure, there were bumps along the way, but they’ve made it and they grew because of everything.

       Liam took a huge step out of his comfort zone and made his way all the way to London. First, it was committing to Niall in marriage, next was being encouraged by Harry to go to culinary school, and now it’s having a life he enjoys.

       Niall kept his head held high and never gave up. He knew he wanted something and he didn’t stop until he got it.

       Zayn learned that there are different kinds of happiness and love, and that even if it makes no sense to him, he should just shrug and go with it. He was wrong for what he did all those years ago and he knows he’ll never be forgiven, but he also knows he has one hell of a best friend.

       Louis went with his gut and he has never regretted his decision. He has always been the person to help others, but a certain curly-haired, green-eyed boy helped him more than anyone else ever has; he showed Louis that love is real and that love is worth it.

       Harry got the life he never thought it was possible for him to have. He likes to think about how far he has come and how much he has Louis to thank for his life. The day he met Louis is the day Harry met freedom and love, and really, what else could have Harry asked for?

       Their lives aren’t perfect – no one’s life is perfect – but together, they are ready to take on whatever life throws at them. And who knows what will happen because anything is possible if you just believe.

       And they believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that's all folks, thanks for reading xx


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